It turns out $48 million in lottery tickets doesn't look as impressive as it sounds.
Shrink-wrapped pallets arrived by tractor-trailer Monday to a warehouse in southwest Little Rock, a first shipment of about 30 million scratch-off tickets destined to inaugurate the start of Arkansas' state lottery.
Lottery officials dolled up the event for reporters, with two police cruisers and a motorcycle blaring sirens as a semi-truck decorated with balloons and streamers, like a homecoming parade float, pulled up. Still, once drivers pulled away a banner from Trailer No. 53958 of Feplo Trucking, only 18 bland brown pallets greeted onlookers.
State lottery director Ernie Passailaigue offered a different take.
"You can see the hopes, dreams and ambitions of our youngsters right here," Passailaigue said in the bare-walled warehouse with empty racks awaiting the tickets. "You'll see thousands of young Arkansans going to school with scholarship aid from the lottery."
First, though, comes the sale. About 1,500 locations across the state — many convenience stores and gas stations — have applied to sell the four types of scratch-offs that will start the lottery. Those tickets include $2 games called "Arkansas Riches" and "Jumbo Bucks," a $5 ticket called "$100,000 Cash Bonus" and a $1 game called "3 Times Lucky" — which represented the first pallet pulled off the trucks.
Each retailer will get $10,000 worth of tickets for the start of the lottery, delivered by UPS to each location from the Little Rock warehouse, Passailaigue said. Vendors will be resupplied depending on how many tickets they sell.
The tickets will be on sale beginning "a second after midnight" on Sept. 28, Passailaigue said. Lottery commission estimates put as much of 30 percent of the net proceeds toward college scholarships. About 60 percent will go to players, with top prizes ranging from $3,000 to $100,000. Another 6 percent will go to retailers. Manufacturer Scientific Games of Alpharetta, Ga., receives 1.75 percent, and the rest covers administrative and advertising costs, Passailaigue said.
Passailaigue declined to offer any estimate on how many tickets will be sold the first night, but the ad agency for the lottery hopes to create an "adult version of a Harry Potter book release."
Nearly two-thirds of voters supported a constitutional amendment in the November election to allow the games. Since that time, the lottery commission drew criticism for six-figure salaries awarded to top officials and a bidding process for work that left some companies upset. Others warned the games would prey on the poor or those hoping for a big win against sizable odds.
Still, the commission has progressed from startup meetings in May to having tickets on the ground five months later. Now, only two weeks separate Arkansans from using dimes and fingernails to dig away at the state's first lottery tickets.
That wasn't lost on at least one commission staffer. As the sirens faded and the truck came to a halt, she leaned over to Passailaigue and said, "That gave me chill bumps, Ernie."
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