NASCAR Vice
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 8:42 PM

Outrunning revenooers was one impetus for what has developed into stock car racing. NASCAR has had tobacco company and beer brewer sponsorship in the past, and recently took on sponsors from the hard liquor industry. Further, according to an article in today's New York Times, NASCAR also has a tie-in to the gambling world. Some scratch-off tickets for the South Carolina Education Lottery include pictures of drivers, their racecars, and the NASCAR logo; see for yourself -- and for $3, you, too, can have a one-in-750,000 chance of winning $50,000 (plus the possibility of smaller prizes). Or perhaps, if $3 is a bit steep, you should consider Shrimp & Grits 2, where your $1 ticket could yield a $2000 payoff! The National Football League isn't participating in a lottery ticket tie-in, but other sports associations are not so reserved:

But Nascar is hardly alone in its pursuit of gambling income. The company that licenses sports leagues and athletes for use on lottery tickets, MDI Entertainment L.L.C., has also signed the N.B.A., the N.H.L. and the golfers Vijay Singh and Annika Sorenstam to use on lottery tickets. The leagues or the athletes receive a cut of the income from the tickets as well as merchandising money from league or team products that are awarded as part of the game.

Labels: alcohol, lottery, marketing