Lottery machines to sell, cash tix at Wawas

The gambling guv is in town to announce "a new partnership between two longtime Pennsylvania institutions."

Those institutions: Wawa and the state lottery.

The official announcement with Gov. Rendell, who championed casinos around the state, takes place at 3:30 p.m. at the Wawa at 11th and Arch Streets.

But the plan - to roll out lottery vending machines at Wawas across the state - has been in the works since spring.

Under a pilot program, 40 Wawas have been testing new machines, which dispense tickets for both instant and numbers games, including both Powerball and Mega Millions.

A player puts in cash - $1 to $20 bills, no credit cards - and selects games, any numbers and dollar amounts, then gets any change in the form of a voucher that can be used as cash at the register.

The machine can also scan tickets, and turn smaller winners into vouchers as well.

It's the voucher part - as well as Wawa being a source for tickets - that's new, not the idea of lottery machines.

Players can also fill out cards with their numbers to play jackpot games.

Other new wrinkles - as well as more details - might emerge from the afternoon news conference.

"We were actually the first state in the country to introduce the self-service terminals, back in 2004," said Pennsylvania Lottery spokeswoman Elizabeth Brassell.

The kiosk program is expected to expand to at least 80 Wawas, and possibly Rite-Aid stores as well, said state lottery spokeswoman Kirstin Alvanitakis.

"We began to test and pilot the program back in May," said Wawa spokeswoman Lori Bruce.

New Jersey has self-service machines as well, but only for instant tickets. Wawas in the Garden State don't sell lottery tickets yet, said state lottery spokeswoman Mary Ann Rivell.