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[Note: This material is copyright by The Gazette, and is reproduced here as a matter of "fair use" for non-commercial, educational purposes only. Any other use may require the prior approval of The Gazette.]

  Casino advertisements typically are kept off the UI campus, as any perceived link between college athletics and gambling is a no-no.

  The school’s relationship with the Iowa Lottery is acceptable because the lottery is a state agency, a UI official said. But a gambling opponent said it sets a bad example, especially because college students are susceptible to gambling addiction.

  UI Interim President Gary Fethke asked Athletics Director Gary Barta to meet with him next week about the ads after seeing them on television, Fethke and Barta said. The ads started running last Friday. Fethke said he didn’t want to comment until after talking with Barta, other than to say he found the ads interesting.

  Barta said he has not received any complaints about the UI’s association with the Iowa Lottery.

  In the past, the university has walked a fine line with gambling ads. UI officials prohibit the word ‘‘casino’’ from ads at Kinnick Stadium and Carver-Hawkeye for the Riverside Casino & Golf Resort. This situation differs, Barta said, because the casino is a for-profit business, while the lottery is state-sponsored.

  ‘‘We always want to represent the university well. The lottery falls in the delicate area of corporate partnerships,’’ he said. The Iowa Lottery did not have to pay to use UI logos, a lottery spokeswoman said. The ads were not videotaped at Carver-Hawkeye, but use green-screen technology and crowd footage.

  The TV ads are part of a new Iowa Lottery promotion. People who don’t win an instant prize in a scratch-ticket game may enter a drawing to win a customized Hawkeyethemed Dodge Caliber, to be given away during the UI men’s basketball game on March 3.

  The Iowa Lottery did a similar promotion with Iowa State University last fall, giving away a Cyclone-themed motorcycle, and last year gave away a Hawkeye-themed motorcycle, also using university logos in TV ads in those cases, Tina Potthoff, Iowa Lottery public affairs manager, said.

  ‘‘We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback,’’ she said.

  But Tom Coates, a gambling opponent and director of Consumer Credit of Des Moines, criticized the connection. That agency for many years operated the state’s gambling addiction hot line. ‘‘They’re not sensitive at all to the fact that lottery is a form of gambling and it’s kind of a gateway drug,’’ he said. ‘‘When people argue marijuana desensitizes people to dangers of harder drugs, I think the lottery is that way to a lot of people.’’

  And betting on college sports is the primary outlet for many gamblers, especially young males, Coates said.

  ‘‘The problem is the university’s acceptance of this and condoning the link,’’ he said. The Iowa Lottery contracts are through Learfield Sports, which manages multimedia rights for 26 college athletic programs nationwide. Learfield partnerships earn UI athletics $ 4.5 million to $5 million per year, Barta said, though he was unsure how much money, if any, the Iowa Lottery partnership generated. Phone messages to Learfield Tuesday and Wednesday were not returned.

  Barta said it’s not unusual for universities to participate in marketing with a state lottery. The UI and Iowa Lottery partnership has been in place for several years, before the start of his tenure last summer, Barta said. ‘‘At the current time I don’t see any reason to change our agreement, but we review all agreements on a regular basis.’