COLUMBUS — As Ohio joins a multistate lottery game to pump up state finances, an opponent is taking its campaign to the airwaves to get people not to play.

        “The idea is to reinforce what people already know: That the lottery is a scam,” David Zanotti, president of the Ohio Roundtable, a public advocacy group, said on Friday.

        “One of the major themes of the ads is that gambling and good government don't mix.”

        Ohio joined the Mega Millions game to raise money to help patch a $1.5 billion deficit. The state hopes to raise about $41 million a year from multistate lottery sales. The first drawing was scheduled for Friday night with a jackpot of $27 million.

        Sales of the new game have been strong since they began Wednesday morning, totaling $1.4 million through Friday afternoon, said Ohio Lottery spokeswoman Mardele Cohen.

        The campaign against Mega Millions started just days after Mr. Zanotti's group along with several churches lost a legal battle to stop the state from participating in a multistate lottery game.

        The four, 30-second ads were first shown on Ohio Public Television on Wednesday and began to air on the Ohio News Network on Thursday.

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