The Associated Press

LOUISVILLE - A kid's game - tic tac toe - is the Kentucky Lottery's newest online offering.

Tic Tac Cash debuted Monday, the first game of its kind nationally, lottery officials said.

It offers a $25,000 top prize.

Concepts for other online games are on the drawing board as the lottery tries to recoup millions being lost across the border to the new state lottery in Tennessee.

Kentucky Lottery president and CEO Arch Gleason said the goal is to "keep our games fresh and fun."

He said Tic Tac Cash fits that description.

The game's play slip resembles a tic tac toe grid.

It features eight squares, each containing five numbers, with a "free" square in the middle.

A player can select a number from each box or let a computer make the pick.

Each evening, the lottery randomly selects eight winning numbers - one of the five numbers in each square.

"The basis of your winnings is how many lines you can draw on that tic-tac-toe board," Kentucky Lottery spokesman Chip Polston said.

Each play costs $1.

The payoff for one line of numbers is $2.

Matching all eight possible lines wins $25,000.

Odds of claiming any cash are 1 in 6.

The odds of winning the grand prize are about 1 in 390,000.

Ed Weyler, owner of Ed's Corner Store in downtown Louisville, said players seemed willing to give the game a try.

"You explain it to somebody, and once they see the play slips and see how it's played, it isn't confusing," Weyler said.

Polston said Tic Tac Cash is expected to generate about $7 million in yearly sales.

That amounts to a tenth of the looming losses as Tennesseans stay home to play their own lottery.