MINNEAPOLIS – Gambling opponents expressed concern over the Minnesota State Lottery, saying that more online sales could “increase addiction and usher in a new generation of gamblers,” reports the Star Tribune.

The Lottery is expanding its online gaming offer to include electronic versions of scratch-off games. The newspaper says the move is designed to attract younger residents to Lottery games and boost sales. Online players can bet up to $50 per week.

“Our state should not be involved in predatory gambling,” said Autumn Leva, spokeswoman for the Minnesota Family Council, said the state is becoming involved with “predatory gambling,” while Lottery officials say “exhaustive studies” of similar online gambling options prove otherwise. “Their fears are not well-founded,” Ed Van Petten, executive director of the Minnesota Lottery, told the newspaper, adding, “There have been no reports of increased gambling addiction at all.”

Van Petten also said that state law doesn’t dictate that the lottery expansion online requires legislative approval. “We are just offering our products through the Internet,” he said.