Posted on 04/02/2006 7:18:53 AM PDT by TaxRelief
KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. --North Carolina retailers raked in an estimated $10 million Thursday, the first day of the state lottery.
But that doesn't sway Robert Arey, who has no desire to sell the tickets at the 15 convenience stores he owns in the Charlotte region. "You work for what you get," said Arey, who runs the One Stop Food Stores. "You don't win it."
Arey said he is morally opposed to the lottery, which he calls a "poor tax," and he doesn't expect his decision to cost him money.
In fact, he said, his stores in South Carolina actually saw an increase in sales when the lottery went into effect there a few years ago. He said his customers have told him how much they appreciate not having to wait in long lines behind lottery players: "'Thank you so much for not having it. We waited in one store for 15 minutes just to buy milk.'"
Arey said the lottery also isn't worth the 7 percent return in sales. The more traditional items, such as tobacco, potato chips and beverages, haul in a profit of 20 percent to 40 percent.
"We're in the convenience store business," Arey said, "and lottery is not convenient."
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Lottery sales in NC began on March 30, 2006. NC was the last state on the East Coast to get a lottery.
I stood behind an elderly lady at my local grocery store customer service counter while she bought her weekly supply of lottery tickets. I don't play the lottery and had no conception of what all the terms meant. (Box this. Split that. 50/50 something else.) It took a full 10 minutes as she checked the couple of dozen tickets one at a time.
It was frustrating to many in line and I can't imagine it made all that much money for Giant Eagle since the face values of the tickets wound up being a mere $25.
But the state of Pennsylvania is happy.
My sister once worked at such a store to pick up some extra cash and she confirmed that this was true at her store.
Yeah, that's always befuddled me, too. Why do people have to scratch off their tickets, etc, when there is a LINE. Buy the damn tickets and get the hell outta my way!
Couldn't one argue that convenience stores are themselves a "tax on the poor?"
Yet he sells cigarettes and beer. Both addictive substances.
The store owner himself is gambling through his customers. Most states give the convenience store owner a cut (1%) in his customer's winnings.
In Massachusetts, vendors earn an average of $27,027 per year on lottery sales.
I was thinking the same thing. It's fine to take a moral stand, but if he thinks alcohol and tobacco are causing less damage than lottery tickets then he's a fool.
For the record, I'm not opposed to any of them.
The ones who do that can easily be spotted sitting in their cars, with piles and piles of losing tickets littering the ground under their driver's window.
In theory, we are a "Classless" society, but I do not think this is the original meaning of the term.
MA vendors earned an average of $27,000 per store in 2004.
Lottery tickets and cigarette customers are the worst about holding up lines.
I've only bought one lottery ticket a few years ago when I was in Atlanta. It was one of those scratch-off Blackjack tickets, and I won $50, which was nice beginner's luck. :)
I've never been much for gambling anyhow.
I'm pretty sure that in California, it's 5%.
The Neighbors chain of convenience stores and gas stations in the Forsyth, Stokes, and Surry County area is not selling lottery tickets and they are proudly advertising themselves as "lottery free."
For the record, the "tax on the poor" argument is dumb.
This is not dissimilar from the fault in arguments used by fat people suing McDonald's or homosexuals demanding equal access.
These arguments dismiss the fact that behaviors are based on personal choice.
Well, since the scratch off tickets started selling here in NC I think my family has spent about $10 on tickets. Won $0.
Had two tickets sitting in my visor overnight. The kids say they will scratch off the tickets for me as long as we split 50/50. They're waiting for "the big one".
Looking at other states, and most states are only giving a 5% return on sales.
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