Yesterday, I saw something very creative that I've never seen before. It might possibly help increase the sales of Sweet Millions tickets, but I have no idea how it could be propigated to other lottery retailers. (Or if they'd even be willing to do it.)
I stopped to buy milk, bread and a Take5 ticket at a convenience store located near my home. On the checkout counter next to the cash register and lottery terminal, was a display stand with four or five one dollar Lotto quick pick tickets clipped into it. A handwritten sign at the bottom of the stand said "Lotto Quick Picks - $1.00 each" (The stand was about 3 feet high and is normally used to display small bags of potato chips that clip on to the stem of the stand. The clerk referred to it as a "tree display" and it looked like it could hold about a dozen or so tickets. I think some tickets had already been sold because the clips were empty.)
I mentioned to the clerk that it I thought it was a clever idea. The woman replied, "Yeah, we do it when sales of Lotto tickets are larger than usual because the jackpot is big." I asked what do they do if they dont sell all of the tickets. She replied that typically all the tickets end up being sold, but if there are any left over, about a half hour before the drawing, either the staff buys them or they cancel them.
I asked do they let customers look at the numbers and pick and choose among them? She replied "Sure. Be my guest." Selling QP's this way also speeds up getting a customer through the checkout.
Maybe on Monday's and Thursday's stores could do the same thing with SM tickets..... just a thought