Five N.C. stores stop selling lottery tickets

Jul 28, 2006, 7:33 am (14 comments)

North Carolina Lottery

Across North Carolina, a total of 132 stores have discontinued lottery ticket sales because they say it's just not worth the effort.

In Johnston County, five businesses — two Smithfield stores, as well as stores in Selma, Clayton, and Benson — have stopped selling the tickets. The owners say it is simply a matter of customer service and not enough profit for retailers.

Unlike some other states, North Carolina's lottery does not pay a bonus to stores that sell winning tickets.

Even with the Powerball jackpot at $155 million dollars, there's debate raging about North Carolina's lottery.

"I think it's a regressive tax basically."

"Most of the time I think maybe I'm gonna win."

But for store owners that sell the lottery tickets, it doesn't pay to shell out the tickets.

Since the lottery started, 132 retailers have opted out of the game, believing the 7% commission makes the lottery a bad gamble.

Not only do tickets need to be purchased, but the ticket needs to be a winner.

The North Carolina Lottery Commission told Eyewitness News the majority of the closures occurred in low traffic areas like hair salons and auto parts stores.

The owners of top selling stores are breaking even, but they're looking ahead for brighter days.

ABC 11, Lottery Post Staff

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LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

you can't blame the stores because they really can't make anything.also its a fact that they have real bad odds on the scratch off tickets as it is.i think the whole thing could've been handled better.i'm not knocking north carolina lottery.i would love to play the numbers games if the option to play shows up on betslips.....

RJOh's avatarRJOh

I think it's good that stores are opting out on their own, if 7% of their sales isn't worth the effort then they're not selling enough tickets.  Stores that small usually don't carry enough  cash to pay winning tickets so lottery customers don't return.  If North Carolina paid bonuses to stores selling winning tickets, the odds of a store with low sales selling them aren't that good that it would make much difference.

DoubleDown

"Unlike some other states, North Carolina's lottery does not pay a bonus to stores that sell winning tickets".

 

Well,  There you have it....

DD

starchild_45's avatarstarchild_45

just recently i purchased a long draw ticket for $104 dollar for powerball in charlotte. that caught the owners eye and he was happy for my purchase. he gave me a ear full about this and he was not happy. the bonus is what they look forward to just like their counterparts in south carolina. i think south carolina give 25000 to the wining store and they give other incentives to the store owners. he was giving me so much info i had to leave to get away from the complaining. north carolina will wake up to keeping it's retailers happy or they will lose a lot more.

Three2001

If NC would have more online games, I think the retailers would go back to selling.  No Pick 3 or 4 or 5 in NC is there?

LOTTOMIKE's avatarLOTTOMIKE

Quote: Originally posted by Three2001 on Jul 28, 2006

If NC would have more online games, I think the retailers would go back to selling.  No Pick 3 or 4 or 5 in NC is there?

no games besides powerball.again i'm not slamming north carolina.i like it there and have thought about moving there on several occasions.however as far the lottery goes they have messed up on a lot of matters concerning the way it is run,payouts,decision making,etc. the very month after tennessee started its lottery we had a pick 3.whats the big hold up on adding new games?????

Coin Toss's avatarCoin Toss

No offesne to NC but this sounds like a classic example of what happens when you leave something like this up to good ole boy local yokels instead of bringing in experienced people that know what they are doing.

Or at a minimum, get experienced people who know what they are doing to train your people who will be running the show.

DUH.

"OK class, are we going to pay the stores selling our lottery tickets bonuses on big winners? And igf the anser is no, explain why you think the stores would want to continue to sell our lottery tickets."

DoubleDown

Quote: Originally posted by Coin Toss on Jul 28, 2006

No offesne to NC but this sounds like a classic example of what happens when you leave something like this up to good ole boy local yokels instead of bringing in experienced people that know what they are doing.

Or at a minimum, get experienced people who know what they are doing to train your people who will be running the show.

DUH.

"OK class, are we going to pay the stores selling our lottery tickets bonuses on big winners? And igf the anser is no, explain why you think the stores would want to continue to sell our lottery tickets."

I Agree!     What is their incentive ?

 

...DD

NCPicks

http://www.lottery.nc.gov/execDirector.htm

Kidzmom's avatarKidzmom

NC is new at this and they should be paying the stores for selling a winning jackpot ticket hopefully  it will get better when it gets going strong.  Most of the stores opting out of the lottery are stores in rural areas and beauty shops.  These people do not generate enough traffic to warrant selling any tickets.  It's basically where the traffic is.  My case in point:  Pool hall on hwy 55, which offers pool/bar like experience, he sells quite a few tickets in which he says has been one of the best things he has done.  He just wishes they got a profit off it, but I say if the stores across NC got together to sign a petition about increasing a payout if a jackpot is won to the store that sells the winning PB ticket. If that didn't work then they need to stop selling them completely and I bet you NC will change that practice.  NO revenue, NO profit for the bigwigs, and the lottery will be kaput!

Another point is that these merchant's knew what they were getting in to before they even signed the contract, you just can't fault NC if the merchant's wanted the lottery just because, its like selling ice cream in hell....(not to offend anyone with this last statement). but you have to ask, didn't they read the fine print?

dvdiva's avatardvdiva

If they loose enough retailers they might wake up and change it.

wizeguy's avatarwizeguy

I don't see why low volume locations are dropping out. It's not like they need a full time employee just to handle lottery sales. And I think many that are staying realize as other games come online sales will pick up quite a bit. I agree with the others that sellers should get a percentage of winners sold not just for the big jackpots but for all winners sold. It doesn't have to be a  lot % wise to make a difference whether a store decides to join the lottery team.

NCPicks

NC is now accepting bids on drawing machines with ball sets that must be ready before October.They may not have Pick 3 or Pick 5 yet but,it won't be long!

CASH Only

NY retailers get 6%. AFAIK it's 5% in Connecticut. I'm not sure if Connecticut stores get a bonus on winning tickets, but NY doesn't have it except for jackpot winners.

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