Seahawks scratch lottery ticket debuts

The Seahawks helmet and logo is featured on a Washington Lottery scratch ticket that went on sale Tuesday. It is the first licensed NFL scratch ticket to be sold in the country, coming after NFL owners voted unanimously in May to relax restrictions on teams licensing scratch lottery tickets. The NFL has stated there is a difference between random games of chance such as scratch tickets and gambling on the outcome of sporting events. Other teams have announced plans for scratch lottery tickets. The Washington Redskins have a licensed ticket that will be issued by the Virginia Lottery in early May. The top prize with the Seahawks Winning Play Scratch is $50,000. Additionally, non-winning tickets can be entered in a second-chance drawing for a nine-night stay in Miami and tickets to the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl in 2010. The drawing for that trip will be Jan. 19. The Mariners were featured on a Washington Lottery scratch game in 2007. Part of the proceeds of the Washington Lottery go to paying down the debt on Qwest Field and Event Center and Safeco Field. In 2008, the Washington Lottery reported it made $13.3 million in stadium contributions to Safeco and Qwest. That total was 2.5 percent of its $521.1 million total contributions and expenses.