RALEIGH, N.C. -- The North Carolina Lottery Commission is closer to putting together a network of ticket retailers after approving a proposed contract with about 30 guidelines for stores, reported the Associated Press.
A statewide database already has provided a list of 10,000 potential retailers, lottery executive director Tom Shaheen said. State law does not cap the number of places that will qualify to sell lottery tickets, and it is not clear how many retailers will qualify to sell them.
Shaheen wants instant-win tickets on [image-nocss] sale by April 5, followed by Powerball in July (reportedly July 1) and other number games in the fall.
Some storeowners already are figuring out their marketing plans. My plan is to put little toppers out on the pumps and put a big sign on the road: Lottery tickets being sold,' said Ben Dhillon, the owner of Pit Stop Food & Beverage, Winston-Salem. Dhillon said that between 500 and 600 people come to his store each day, and he expects that most of them would buy tickets. I wish we could start it tomorrow, he said.
The contract approved in mid-December requires retailers to make every effort to display outside signs, though local ordinances may block that from happening. Retailers also will be barred from living in the same household as lottery employees and giving lottery employees large gifts. They will have to undergo background checks, offer all available scratch tickets and pay a $15 weekly fee for each location to help defray the costs of equipment. Retailers will keep 7% of their lottery sales and any bonuses that lottery officials award.
The profit margin is smaller than on many items in a convenience store, AP said, but retailers hope they will come out ahead if the lottery brings more people into the store. I think they would buy stuff in the store when they come to buy lottery tickets, and I think that would help the store, said Wilma Hall, the owner of Mimi's Mini Mart near High Rock Lake. This would really be good for the fishermen and the hunters.
The contract allows tickets to be bought with cash, checks, debit cards and gift cards, but not with credit cards. They also cannot be bought with food stamps. Retailers will not be allowed to be engaged exclusively in lottery sales.
The lottery is expected to generate $425 million in proceeds a year. Half is to go to hire more elementary-school teachers and expand a pre-kindergarten program, 40% would go to help counties build schools and 10% would go to college scholarships.
North Carolina, which will be the 31st Powerball member, already was moving on a high-speed schedule, added a report by the Charlotte Observer.
Joining a multistate game is essential to reaching the lottery's financial goal for education funding of about $425 million out of more than $1 billion in sales, Shaheen told the newspaper. The only other major multistate game, Mega Millions, is not accepting new members, said the report.
North Carolina will not have its own six-number game, once the anchor of most state lotteries. With nine-digit Powerball jackpots, a single state jackpot game can't compete, Shaheen said. It's the way the market has gone, he said.
In September or October, the lottery likely will add a pick-3 or pick-4 game and eventually a five-number lottery, Shaheen said. All of those are quick, cash prize games, compared with the six-number games that spread prizes out over several years.
On each anniversary of the lottery's start, officials will launch a new game, he said, at least for a few years.
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