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Lottery players still scratching
Saturday, April 08, 2006 posted 03:15 AM EDT
Lottery tickets have been on sale for more than a week, and Onslow County residents are still scratching.
While they may not be purchasing the scratch-off tickets at the same fevered pace as they did on the first day of sales on
March 30, enthusiasm for the game hasn’t waned.
That’s good news for the more than 65 Onslow County businesses selling the four different tickets, which range in price
from $1 to $5.
“It’s still pretty busy,” said Alissa Kellum, a bartender at the Hide Away Lounge on Ramsey Road, which sold Onslow
County’s only confirmed $1,000 winning ticket. “I figured it would have died by now, but I think it will take a month.”
Most folks are fairly easygoing when it comes to buying tickets, said Kellum who indicated they haven’t had any complaints
from customers.
“They sit here and scratch and drink,” Kellum said. “It’s fine.”
Sometimes ticket buyers have to wait until those seeking alcohol at the bar are served, Kellum said.
“We make sure our customers get their beer and drinks first, and the others have no problem waiting for tickets,” Kellum
said.
Diane Davis of Jacksonville, however, is tired of waiting at convenience stores. Davis supports the lottery and said she
and her husband have won about $200 in all from the scratch-off lottery tickets. But she doesn’t like being pushed to the
side when she’s ready to cash in a ticket.
“I have gone to a couple of establishments where some of the people are very rude,” Davis said. “If you go in to buy
lottery tickets and some people are waiting in line behind you to pay for gas, they make you wait. I don’t like that. They
should have two separate lines.”
While many convenience stores are selling the tickets, not every clerk working behind the counter necessarily favors the
sales.
Davis doesn’t want to be judged because of how she chooses to spend her money.
“If a person wants to buy lottery tickets or wants to go to church, I don’t think anyone has the right to sit back and
judge you for what you choose to do,” Davis said.
Some convenience store clerks are still working out the kinks, Davis said, and she doesn’t dare stop and scratch off her
tickets on the counter. Many stores have put up signs telling people they can’t scratch off tickets at the counter.
A sign at the Handy Mart on the corner of Old Bridge Street and U.S. 17 points customers to an empty space near the soda
fountain. The handwritten green sign says: “Scratch tickets here.”
“It’s optional whether your store wants to participate,” Davis said. “If you are going to have it, you should be
willing to accommodate the people who are playing.”
Randy Hodge, who owns Petra’s Koffee Haus in Richlands with his wife, Petra, has a sign in his business that directs customers
away from the counter once lottery tickets are purchased. Those who choose to stop and scratch their cards can cause a hold
up for others trying to buy tickets or coffee.
Despite the direction to not “scratch tickets at the counter,” Hodge said none of his customers have complained. Lottery
sales have also brought more people into the coffee shop.
“We have gotten some regular customers out of lottery tickets sales and a lot of people have discovered us,” Hodge said.
“Now we just need to teach them to like cheesecake and good specialty coffees.”
Some of Hodge’s customers are still getting the hang of the four games, including Lottery: The Scenic Game, Tic Tac Toe,
Carolina Cash and Blackjack. Many people need assistance playing.
“I’m surprised at how many people don’t know how to play tic tac toe,” Hodge said. “I’ve had people think they
need to be all Xs when they had three O’s in a row.”
In the past week, hundreds of people called a gambling hotline, which is listed on the back of tickets, to ask questions
about how to play the four different games, according to the Associated Press.
Only 15 to 20 percent of the 600 to 700 callers to the help line have sought help with a gambling addiction. Most want to
know how to play, according to AP.
After five days of sales in North Carolina, lottery tickets generated about $24 million, according to AP.
Hodge is surprised by the number of people who have won money.
“I think on the first day the tickets that I cashed from people that scratched them off here, the winnings exceeded 20
percent of the ticket sales,” he said. “I have no idea how many went out the door winners and cashed them in somewhere
else.”
The $5 Carolina Cash ticket, which has a top prize of $100,000, is the most popular-selling ticket, according to AP.
Three people have won the $100,000 prize in the state. Two people have won $21,000. Five people have won $10,000 and $5,000.
Four have won $2,100. Three have won $1,100 and seven people — including John Kreter of Onslow County — have won the
$1,000 prize, said Pam Walker, a spokeswoman for the N.C. Education Lottery.
The lottery’s toll-free problem gambling hotline is (877) 718-5543. For help playing, call the player hotline at (877)
962-7529.
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