From the Boston Globe:

The New England Patriots are developing the first licensed NFL instant ticket with the Massachusetts State Lottery just days after league owners voted to allow teams to partner with lotteries across the country. "This is going to be a hugely successful collaboration," Robert Kraft, chief executive of Kraft Group, which owns the Patriots, said yesterday. "We are looking forward to helping the lottery generate much needed revenue for the cities and towns of Massachusetts."

Earlier in the week, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell drew a bright line between lotteries and sports gambling, saying:

"This would purely be scratch-off and chance games. They are not in any way connected to the outcome of our games. That is a critical feature for us. We do think it is responsive to the pressures that states are feeling right now to help meet some of those budget shortfalls. It has been effective in other sports, and it is something that is a reasonable policy."

Most offensive of all here is the specious notion, pushed by both the league and Massachusetts state officials, that this is a gold-hearted, civic-minded response to the recession — as if NFL-licensed scratch tickets were anything but a heavily regressive tax that, first and foremost, will help the league make up for lost sponsorships. Of course, the rest of the NFL will surely follow suit now, and everyone will likewise push the idea that taking poor people's money is actually good for the economy, but meanwhile sports gambling is very, very bad. It's the NFL. Take the hypocrisy and lay the points.

ILLUSTRATION: Boston Globe

Pats plan lottery tie-in after NFL eases stance [Boston Globe]

Mike Eynon, a 6'3 305 pound senior lineman, walked into a BP just off campus and emerged with a winning ticket. As befits life as an indentured servant to the NCAA, one of his first telephone calls was to the campus compliance officer to ensure that winning the award didn't violate NCAA rules. He got the all clear and will receive about $172k after taxes. Which in Athens, Ohio will allow him to live without a job for the next ten years.

Eynon came within one number of winning $34 million. The accounting major plans to pay off college expenses and donate money to his church. It's always the rational guys who win the lottery. Imagine if this had happened to Maurice Clarett. Sure it would have been less money than he was getting paid to play at Ohio State, but it would have been legal money. No stripper or bulletproof vest salesman in Columbus would have gone home hungry.

Football player hits lottery numbers, wins $250,000 [The Post]

Ohio U lineman wins lottery [The Sports Point]