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Lottery agencies across Canada say the millennial generation doesn’t buy lottery tickets as often as their parents do. They’ve now grouped together to find a way to attract more 18 and up aged lottery buyers.

The people CHCH News spoke with today said for the most part, the odds of winning are slim and they’d rather spend their money elsewhere than take a chance on a lottery ticket.

It appears lottery buyers lining up at Jackson Square in Hamilton are older than 35, with a few exceptions. Savo Grmusa is 30, and he’s played the lottery for five years: “A little bit of hope, never thought I’d be working in a factory my entire life, never know when you can get out for early retirement.”

Grmusa is in the age group that has the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation concerned. Some Canadian lottery agencies say they’re dealing with a 30% decline in the number of young adults buying lottery tickets.

“I just think the odds are too great honestly, I don’t have money to spare so I don’t want to waste it on something that isn’t productive use of my money.”

“I study math and so the odds are never good enough for me to think it’s worthwhile.”

“I don’t play. I just find I’d rather save my money then spend it and just lose it on a weekly think because I never see my parents win.”

Some of the students at McMaster University say surfing the net or playing online poker is more exciting and in some cases more rewarding. Tony Bitonti with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation says it tries to appeal to every age group: “What we’re trying to do is see what appeals to all age groups we know that Lotto 649 and Lotto Max are popular games they’re 30 years old and occasionally we have to do refreshers.”

The Interprovincial Lottery Corporation will look at developing a game aimed at millennials. The move has Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa concerned: “We also want to make certain we protect the citizens who are exposed to it, especially young people and we’ll take the necessary steps to do just that.”

What’s interesting here is that the provinces benefit from lottery sales. Ontario gets $2 billion from the OLG every year to help pay for health, education and community infrastructure. The more people who buy tickets, the more money the province gets; but neither the province nor the OLG want people to develop a gambling addiction, either.