Need Tickets? The Massachusetts Lottery Is Unloading Tickets

State Treasurer Tim Cahill blew our minds today by announcing that he’s giving up the scores of primo tickets the lottery gets for local sporting events because the value of the tickets is too great a reward for high-performing lottery agents.

“When you’re getting people to spend $25,000 [each] for Celtics playoff tickets, it doesn’t seem right for us to control any of those,” Cahill said. “We’re a public agency, I’m an elected official.”

On Beacon Hill, politicians must be scratching their heads and saying, “Huh? Access to great sports tickets is half the reason we got into this business.”

But in all seriousness, Tim, we don’t care that you have the tickets. We just want you to share them with us.

Remember how we said yesterday that part of our plan to weather this economic mess is to play the lottery? If Cahill created a special game to unload the agency’s stash of Red Sox tickets, we’d view spending a few bucks in the hopes of acquiring some great seats for the playoffs as a wise investment. Since the Red Sox didn’t pick our name in the ALDS ticket lottery, our luck is bound to change. (Right?)

While not everyone who plays the game would get tickets, everyone would win. The unwashed masses would have a chance at great seats. Cahill eliminates any appearance of impropriety. And perhaps his buddies at Scientific Games can print up the tickets, so Cahill can get some more donations for his campaign coffers.