But others say the new system could serve a broader purpose, providing the catalyst that will encourage more people to use computers and phone lines to tap into a growing pool of information and services.

Nintendo's use as a gambling device may help put spark into the market for such on-line services, said Gary Arlen of Arlen Communications Inc., a research firm in Bethesda, Md. "I've been looking for the killer service," he said. "This is the kind of thing that makes sense."

For more than a decade, large corporations like Sears, Roebuck and I.B.M. have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in networks that allow people to shop, read the news, and make travel reservations using home computers linked to telephone lines. Such systems, including a Sears-I.B.M. joint venture, Prodigy Services Company, have been somewhat cumbersome to use and have been viewed more as a novelty than a necessary adjunct to daily life. Only about 3 percent of the households in the United States use an on-line service like Prodigy, Mr. Arlen said.

But as giant corporations have stumbled, Nintendo has been lurking in the background, the envy of the industry, with 30 million units already in use. Nintendo has had its eye on far more than the video-game market since it sold its first machine in the United States in 1986.

In Japan, Nintendo customers use their machines for banking and for buying and selling stocks. In a prescient bit of engineering, Nintendo included a plug to snap in a modem on the bottom of every machine sold in the United States.

With the lottery game, Nintendo will introduce its modem to the United States. As a contractor to Control Data, Nintendo will supply the modem and a specially designed software cartridge that provides lottery graphics. Control Data officials said Nintendo was providing the 10,000 machines and the other equipment for the test at no cost. The machines retail for about $80.

People who already have Nintendo machines would have to retrofit them with a modem to take advantage of on-line services. Computer modems are currently available for less than $100, and Mr. Arlen said Nintendo engineers could probably come up with a modem that would cost $50 to $75. Still, he questioned how many consumers would be willing to nearly double their investment in the machines.