Inevitable it would be so.  Not just in ND, but in all the western US, where the price at the pump forces its way into the consciousness a lot more frequently because of how far a person has to drive to get to a gas pump, and the fact that lottery ticket sales locations and gas pumps tend to be attracted enough to one another to find themselves close neighbors.

The western States might be doing themselves a favor to promote the sort of online sales of tickets provided by the site being discussed on another thread.  Giving potential ticket buyers an opportunity to consider ticket purchase at a time when they aren't grinding their teeth about what it just cost to fill the tank would probably get a few more sales.

Jack

Jack

Texas rejected a plan to sell lottery tickets over the internet to customers who make a debit card deposit to a specific retailer.  That could change if it looks like making that extra trip to buy a lottery ticket could hurt sales.  I predict that online casinos that offer Pick 3 could benefit from high gas prices as more people just play online to save that extra trip to the store.

Orangeman                                             

Makes a lot of sense to me, Orangeman.

Jack

I'd say the grossly inflated price of housing is hurting the economy far more than the price of gas. Rent inflation and the total lack of any housing for the middle class is probably causing a drop in lottery sales and retail than gas. The only retailers doing well in our area are the high end ones since only the rich have money.

Which is doing the worst damage might depend on the location.  None of it's doing things any good.  Seems they're running footraces to see who can be the worst, however.

Maybe the chickens are finally coming home to roost.

Jack

I don't know if the housing insanity has reached New Mexico outside of Sante Fe. I've heard that homes are still affordable down there. We had a great worker leave Seattle where you can't buy a crack house for less than $300k to move back to New Mexico where a safe neighborhood is still affordable by the middle class.

The tough part is finding a place in NM that ISN'T a crack house.

When I moved into this backwood berg a bit over a year ago I had a lot of trouble with late-night prowler incidents.  They've trickled off over time, seemingly ending a month or two ago.

The neighbors and Sheriff dept folks attribute it to the fact the NA guy who had the place before me sold a lot of drugs, did a lot of other things that evidently offended people who aren't best offended.  The general thought is that the prowlers were making sure he wasn't still living here and hiding in one of the back rooms.

Mightn't be the case, but it might.

But you're right.  Housing is high cost nowadays.  Even here.  The families who lived in Santa Fe for three centuries definitely can't afford to live there anymore.  A few still have some holdings on the west side, mostly flipping hamburgers and cleaning houses for the rich Californios and Texans who've built there.

Jack

And now Katrina. All games must be hurting for sales.