- Everything you ever wanted or needed to know about the New Jersey Lottery you're gonna find out right now.

He's back again, James Carey, goes by Jim.

Jim Carey is in fact the executive director of the New Jersey Lottery.

Good to see you, Jim.

- Good to be back, Steve.

All right, tell us right now, why is the New Jersey Lottery so popular?

Go ahead.

- Well, we just celebrated a couple years ago our 50th anniversary.

With 50 years of history in the State of New Jersey, we're part of this state, we're part of the community.

In the past couple of years, we've started doing what we call New-Jersey-centric, New-Jersey-focused tickets.

We had a scratch-off ticket featuring the debate of the great breakfast meet in New Jersey.

We had a lot of fun with that.

We recently did a scratch-off with Shaquille O'Neal, and what I tell people is I think everybody in New Jersey knows Shaquille O'Neal has roots here in New Jersey.

Certainly, everybody in Newark knows he is from Newark.

So, we're a great part of the State of New Jersey, we've been here for a long time, and we're looking forward for another 50 years.

- Jim, we're also putting up the number for 1-800-GAMBLER, the Council for Compulsive Gambling for those who have issues concerned about family members who may have issues with gambling, but help us understand this, what the heck has been the impact of the explosion of online gambling on lottery?

- Well, it's maybe a little too soon to say what the impact has been of online gambling on the lottery.

We've continued to grow since 2018, and sports betting was legalized in the United States and in New Jersey.

So as we've continued to grow, we've been watching.

What we do know is that sports betting and online casinos are generating enormous revenues.

Lots of people are attracted to it.

And we also know that young men are particularly attracted to things like sports betting.

So if the New Jersey Lottery wants to have another 50 years of success and growing income for the state, we're gonna have to adjust to what is a new environment for gaming in the state.

- Yeah, let's talk about adjusting.

Right now you cannot purchase a lottery ticket online, correct?

- Well, you can purchase the lottery ticket online in New Jersey through what are called New Jersey Lottery couriers.

There are four companies currently selling lottery tickets in New Jersey.

Jackpocket, Lotto.com, TheLotter, and Jackpot.

And we work with them, we regulate them, and we oversee them.

And so you can buy a lottery ticket online through a courier.

- Okay, but are you looking to expand the ability to purchase a lottery ticket online?

- So the New Jersey Lottery has been exploring selling tickets online as well.

We're interested in trying to sell our draw tickets online, games like Powerball, Pick-6, Mega Millions, and Pick-3.

It's 2025, and virtually every form of commerce and entertainment has a direct online presence.

If the New Jersey Lottery wants to keep growing, we've got to meet customer expectations, we've gotta be where consumers are.

And you know and I know that people between the ages of 25 and 40 have basically been raised with the internet and on their phones, and they have that expectation that if they're gonna do business with a company, they should be able to do that online, so.

So you can buy a lottery ticket online through one of the couriers, but we think it's necessary to, you know, keep expanding our retail reach and the ways that people can get to the lottery.

- Jim, lemme ask you this.

For those who don't know where the dollars go, I've asked you this in previous interviews you've done with us, explain to folks the revenues for the lottery goes where and to what kinds of programs in the state.

- So the state lottery law that was passed in 1969 said that lottery revenue is supposed to go to support education and institutions.

In 2017, a law was passed that made the lottery a part of the state pension system.

So we are an asset of the state pension system.

As you know, New Jersey did not do a great job historically funding the pensions.

Governor Murphy has made it a central part of his agenda to fully fund the pensions as obligated and make sure that we're able to fulfill our promises to people who have worked for the state.

So we're an asset of the pension system.

All of our profit goes to support pensions, and the bulk of that profit goes to the teacher's pension system.

And I'd say over the last eight years we have contributed more than a billion dollars each year to the state pension system.

- Got it, lemme try this.

What the heck is the deal with New Jersey and California, I think, being seen as luckier states?

You're smiling because, why do we win, people in New Jersey and people in California, win more?

What's up with that?

- Well, it comes from this idea that every time I go out and speak around the state, people tell me, "How come only people in North Jersey win the lottery?"

And I say- - Wait a minute, now it's not even New Jersey, it's North Jersey.

- Yes!

And that's the question that people ask.

And of course I tell people, "Well, it's demographics."

That's where the most people in New Jersey live.

That's where most players live.

And so that's where you'll see the most winners.

But the two biggest wins that I've seen were both in South Jersey.

We had the billion-dollar winner in Neptune, and a couple of weeks later, we had a $200 million Powerball winner in Camden County.

And so when people ask me that question, I say it's all demographics.

And when I go around the rest of the country and meet other lottery directors, other lottery directors always say to me, "You know, the biggest complaint that I get in South Carolina or Georgia is, 'How come people only in California and New Jersey win the Powerball or the Mega Millions?'"

And they say it's about population.

- Yeah.

Before I let you go, how much fun has this job been for you, especially when you're presenting very big checks to people that changes their lives?

- Well, the job's been loads of fun.

And getting to see and meet with people on one of the best days of their lives and present them with life-changing amounts of money.

And it could be, you know, a Jersey Cash 5 jackpot of $150,000.

I meet people like that every week, and that's a load of fun.

But I've been with the state for 25 years, and I've got, you know, that good government sense to me and other things of working with the New Jersey Lottery are lots of fun to me.

Modernizing our efforts.

Now players can get a ACH payment instead of a paper check when they win.

Soon we'll have players being able to submit a claim to us using the New Jersey Lottery app.

So, modernizing our operations is also a great part of what I do.

- Also, finally, you cannot, as the executive director, you cannot play the lottery, correct?

- That was a very disappointing fact for me when I realized that I could not play the lottery.

I knew it coming in, and when I realized that I wasn't gonna be able to play again and I realized that I was not gonna be able to buy that giant boat that I see at the shore when I hit the lottery, that was a shocking fact to me.

- Well, broadcasters with public broadcasting, we can and do engage, and I'm still hoping the big day comes.

Hey, listen, James Carey, Jim Carey is the executive director of New Jersey Lottery, all the best to you and your team at the Lottery.

Thank you, Jim.

- Thank you very much, Steve.

It's always a pleasure to be here.

- Absolutely.

I'm Steve Adubato.

That's the head of the lottery in New Jersey.

We'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] Think Tank with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

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