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 guess it doesn't matter - the intentions of an action are only secondary to the outcome of an action.
Lotteries are a tax on people who are really bad at math.
Heard my first (annoying) radio commercial for the NC lottery this past Friday. Apparaently the target market really is very stupid. The irony is that it's called an Education lottery. Would proceeds plummet if they actually teach math more effectively?
OK.The principle outcome of his decision is that lottery tickets won't be sold at his stores.If this decision results in increased sales/profits for him (which the story seems to suggest could happen) then his motive would seem to be profit oriented.
But if this decision hurts his slays/profits,then one could argue that his motives are admirable,IMO.
I hear you. I had to wait in line for roughly ten minutes trying to pay for $10 in gas recently because some lottery-obsessed 'old bat' kept buying and scratching; completely oblivious to the ten people in line behind her.
I didn't think of it like that!!
Here in SC it's called the "Education Lottery" also. The lottery sales must be at an all time low since the state is using the profits to buy used school buses from other states. I know of NO ONE who has benefited from this scam.
Wow. Sorry for the way that post came out. I did, indeed, have paragraphs. I guess I didn't check the preview carefully.
Most of the gas stations in NC already have inadequate parking. Adding a lottery clientele has made it a little more difficult to "grab a gallon of milk" on the way home from work.
>For the record, the "tax on the poor" argument is dumb.<
For the record you have not looked at the subject if you think that.The top 10 zip codes in Ga. for purchases of lottery tickets have the fewest Hope Scholarships.The 10 zip codes with the highest # of Hope scholars are among the lowest purchasesers of Lottery ticets.
NCSteve, I saw that this morning at the Neighbors store in Lewisville, where I live, and they had the "lottery free" wording on their sign at the road (which sign will be illegal in October, due to sign size restrictions and amortization). I was kind of glad to see it. I usually pay at the pump for gas and don't go inside very often.
As for the lottery itself, I might play occasionally. I wonder if my church would accept some of my winnings to help pay off our new building loan? I suspect they would.
As for the guy who declines to sell lottery tickets but sells cigarettes and alcohol (I assume that is what he means by beverages), I have no problem with that. I don't care if he sells lottery tickets. No one is forced to buy any of them. There is no "poor tax." Taxes are mandatory, none of these purchases is. If you can't help but buy this stuff, you have no one to blame but yourself.
By the way, where in NC do you live?
On a side note, the day the lottery started one of our local affiliates played an interview by the state superintendent. Now mind you this is the day the lottery started. She stated North Carolinians needed to realize the lottery won't pay for all that is needed for education but is just a supplement. Already setting the idiots up for higher taxes
It is a tax on people to support a system that teaches evolution.
It is a tax on people who believe in very long odds improbably benefitting them to support a system that teaches that we are all the beneficiaries of incredibly longer odds.
In fact, the schools have a vested interrest in not teaching math better. If the general populace were trained in real math, understood the probabilities against winning, or understood skills that would actually benefit them in life, the lottery proceeds would plummet. The schools get more money when people do not understand math, business, are not able to be a success without hoping for a lottery win, and are buying more tickets.
NOTICE OF APPEAL IN LOTTERY CASE FILED NOTICE OF APPEAL IN LOTTERY CASE FILEDThought you might find this press release (March 29, 2006) interesting. they have not updated their website ncicl.org as of yet.
A Press Release by the North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law
RALEIGH - The N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law, at the request of the Plaintiffs and with approval of its Board of Directors, has today filed a Notice of Appeal to the N.C. Court of Appeals from the Orders entered by Judge Henry Hight in the Lottery Act litigation. We anticipate that the N.C. Justice Center on behalf of the Plaintiffs/Intervenors may file a separate Notice of Appeal later this week. As soon as the Record on Appeal is filed, it is anticipated that a Petition for Discretionary Review will be filed on behalf of the Plaintiffs and Plaintiffs/Intervenors with the N.C. Supreme Court requesting the Court to take the case and bypass the Court of Appeals as well as to expedite the briefing and argument schedule.
"As we have indicated from the beginning of this litigation, we feel that there are vitally important constitutional questions relating to the passage of the N.C. Lottery Act that need to be resolved with finality by our state's highest court." said NCICL's Executive Director Robert Orr. "With the lottery beginning in N.C. this week, the need for the quickest possible resolution of these issues is imperative. Millions of dollars will have been taken in by the state and debts incurred by the state to pay winners, while the appeal process moves forward. The constitutional issues involved not only affect the Lottery Act but potentially impact legislative enactments in the future." he added.
"While disappointed in the Trial Court's decision, we still feel strongly about the merits of our constitutional arguments and look forward to presenting them at the appellate level." Orr said.
And yet he eventually sold his business and retired because he adamantly refused to put any video slot machines in his pub -- and was losing customers over it. I never understood how someone in that kind of business could take a moral stand on something like gambling, but I think I eventually figured it out. I suspect he wasn't opposed to gambling on truly "moral" grounds, but on the grounds that it represents a serious violation of the basic work ethic that had driven his ancestors to settle out there and earn a living the hard way. In his mind, the notion that you can get something without working for it is probably the most destructive force in the world today.
They can get a bunch from Louisiana...
RALEIGH - The NC State Lottery sales results for part of Thursday (the first day of sales) have been released.
Unofficial estimates from some elected officials put sales at $10 million with pay outs at $1,350,000 on Thursday. Other unofficial estimates put Thursday's sales at $8 million with only $110,000 in payouts.
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