THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, March 7, 1995                 TAG: 9503070276
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: RICHMOND                           LENGTH: Short :   40 lines

LOTTERY TO FOCUS ITS AD MONEY ON TV AND RADIO

The Virginia Lottery will no longer advertise in newspapers, saying radio and television promotions work better.

The Lottery, with an advertising budget of $17.5 million, said a July 1994 survey showed that only 4 percent of players got information about the game from newspapers.

In contrast, 57 percent relied on television, which carries live drawings of the big-money Lotto game. Nineteen percent listened to the radio for lottery updates.

The Lottery's retreat from print advertising is part of a national pattern, according to the 1994 edition of World Lottery Almanac.

Only one state, Texas, spent as much as Virginia on print promotion - $3 million - with four others budgeting between $1.25 million and $1.54 million.

Some smaller newspapers said the Lottery's decision could hurt them.

``Anytime any newspaper, especially a weekly, loses a yearlong contract, that causes grief,'' said Michael D. Salster, editor of The Amelia Bulletin Monitor. The newspaper had a one-year contract to carry the ``Lottery Connection,'' a promotion in a newspaper story format.

Lottery Connection, introduced last July, was dumped this week to free up money to promote on television and radio two new scratch-off games whose launches were accelerated to boost instant-games revenues.

The Lottery will pay newspapers about $93,000 in cancellation fees, Lottery spokeswoman Paula Otto said.

The Virginia Press Association hopes to persuade the Lottery to get back into newspapers, said Ginger W. Stanley, the group's executive manager.

KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA LOTTERY by CNB