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Pennsylvania Lottery Launches Age Verification System

MIDDLETOWN, Pennsylvania – (PRESS RELEASE) -- Secretary of Revenue Gregory C. Fajt today announced that more than 6,700 Lottery retailers will be able to electronically check the ages of customers through online Lottery terminals using a new age verification system. Age verification software will be downloaded, free of cost, to all Lottery terminals across the Commonwealth.

"The Department of Revenue and the Pennsylvania Lottery recognize our social responsibility to help retailers prevent the sale of Lottery tickets to minors," said Secretary Fajt. "To that end, we're proud to make available this tool that will aid in the age verification process."

The new terminal capability will not only allow retailers to check the ages of Lottery customers, but could also be helpful in verifying the ages of those who want to purchase other age-restricted products, such as cigarettes and alcohol.

"The lottery's age verification system will allow retailers to accurately and conveniently check a customer's age," said Dale Horst, Weis Markets Vice President for Store Operations. "It will also complement our own front-end age verification system for tobacco purchases, which we are currently installing in our cash registers."

When a retailer swipes a PA driver's license or ID card through the magnetic stripe reader on the Lottery terminal, the card owner's age in years and days will appear on the terminal screen. Retailers can then print the screen if they want to maintain a record of an age verification procedure.

Scientific Games, Lottery's systems provider, developed the software that enables Lottery terminals to read the magnetic stripes on PA driver's licenses and ID cards. The Department of Transportation assisted in developing the technology by providing information about PA licenses and ID cards. Lottery Executive Director Ed Mahlman said the system does not retain any information about customers. It is a read-only technology that cannot collect data about customers or their purchases.

The Pennsylvania Lottery remains the only state Lottery that designates all its proceeds to programs that benefit older residents. Since its inception 32 years ago, the Lottery has contributed more than $13.8 billion to programs that include property tax and rent rebates; free and reduced-fare transit; the low-cost prescription drug programs PACE and PACENET; and the 52 Area Agencies on Aging, including 650 full- and part-time senior centers throughout Pennsylvania. The Lottery reminds its players to play responsibly. Players must be 18 or older.

For more information about the Pennsylvania Lottery, visit the Lottery's Web site, http://www.palottery.com.

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