Thousands Apply to Sell Tickets : Retailers Hope They’ll Be Instant Lottery Winners
With visions of cashing in on the lottery, thousands of Californians lined up at state offices Friday to pick up applications to sell instant “scratch-off” game tickets.
The long-stalled lottery is scheduled to begin in late September or early October, and the people who turned out at branch offices of the State Board of Equalization and Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control were those who hope to cash in on the 5% commission the state will pay retailers for merchandising the tickets.
With all retailers in the state welcome to pick up forms, Friday’s application distribution was the first time lottery officials had a chance to size up just how popular their new gambling venture might be with the people of California.
They have nothing to worry about, apparently.
Prospective ticket sellers turned out in droves.
At some offices around the state, lines of would-be lottery retailers began forming as early as 6:30 a.m.
About 30 applicants, for example, were lined up at 7:15 a.m. when Board of Equalization District Administrator John Gee arrived at his Hollywood office on Sunset Boulevard, and a steady stream of more than 1,000 would-be ticket sellers filed through his office almost non-stop all day. They came in Cadillacs and dented pickup trucks, in blue jeans and silk suits. There were owners of motels, supermarkets, service stations, drug stores, movie houses and specialty shops. There were men and women of many nationalities, all colors and most creeds.
The scene was replayed in other offices around the state from Redding to San Diego.
“I got off the elevator this morning and I couldn’t believe it,” said Don Painter, senior tax representative at the Board of Equalization district office in San Diego. The hallway in front of his office was full of people--”flooded, that’s a good word,” Painter said.
Early morning lines also were reported in Inglewood, Santa Ana, Santa Rosa, Redding and Sacramento. “They expect a windfall,” Inglewood Alcoholic Beverage Control District Administrator Dallas Taylor said of the applicants.
‘After More Money’
The lure? Would-be retailer James Ross explained it plainly as he left the Hollywood Board of Equalization office: “I’m here because I’m after the same thing the state’s after--more money.” Ross hopes to sell lottery tickets at his two liquor stores in South-Central Los Angeles.
About 170,000 application packets will be distributed around the state in the next several days. All applicants will then be subject to criminal-background checks and to site inspections of their business before being selected by lottery officials, according to guidelines adopted by the state Lottery Commission. The state expects to retain 20,000 retailers and plans to order the printing of as many as 1.7 billion instant-game tickets.
Chain stores such as 7-Eleven, Thrifty, Safeway and others have expressed interest in selling lottery tickets.
Criminal Case in N.Y.
But the role of 7-Eleven in the state lottery may be somewhat clouded by a New York criminal case in which a former vice president of the chain’s parent company, Southland Corp., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bribe a tax official. Because of the felony conviction, the Oregon state lottery has refused to permit company-owned stores to sell tickets, although franchised 7-Eleven outlets are permitted to sell them. California officials have not yet decided whether to adopt similar restrictions.
Willie Greene, owner of the Broadway Motel on West 49th Street in Los Angeles, showed up for an application after being tipped off by a friend. “He told me about the 5% (commission on each $1 ticket sold)--that’s a better percentage than my business,” Greene quipped. “If this thing goes over like I think it’s going to, then things are going to be pretty good. The politicians didn’t want this lottery, but the people did. It’s going to do OK.”
Greene said, as did many of the applicants, that he voted last November for Proposition 37, which created the lottery. And Greene, echoing others in line, said he plans to buy lottery tickets himself, seeking a chance to win up to $5,000 during the first week the gambling venture is under way.
‘Just Interested in Money’
One man, in dark sunglasses and an expensive suede jacket, streaked in and out of the line, refusing to stop and talk to a reporter. “I don’t want my name in a newspaper,” he snapped. “I’m just interested in the money.”
Leonard Leum, owner of the Pioneer supermarket chain and chairman of the board of the California Grocers Assn., arrived for his lottery application around 1:45 p.m., after Gee had already dispensed about half of the 2,800 forms the lottery board sent him.
While Leum said he looks forward to selling the tickets, he cautioned that Grocers Assn. members are unhappy with the 5% commission. They think it is too low.
“In fact, we’re in the process of having a study done now to determine our exact costs,” Leum said, adding that market owners are also concerned about a possible slowdown in checkout lines because of ticket sales. He said owners are discussing the likelihood of selling the tickets at an alternate location in stores, such as the check-cashing or manager’s booths.
Will Study Packet
Not everyone had visions of dollar signs in their head as they picked up the application, however. Service station owner Bill De La Garza said he was going to take the application packet home, read it “and see if it is convenient for me to sell tickets. I want to study the information first. Right now, I don’t know what I may be getting into.”
But Hal Halluma, owner of the Ric Rac cocktail lounge in Downey, can’t wait. “Oh, absolutely, it’s going to be good for business. People are crying for this sort of thing--everybody likes to win.”
Then there was the young woman in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department patrol car who pulled up in front of the Hollywood Board of Equalization office. She couldn’t wait, either. She dashed inside, picked up two applications and headed back to her auto. “They’re for a friend,” she hollered, as she climbed in the patrol car and pulled away from a red-zoned curb.
People with questions about becoming a lottery ticket retailer may call (916) 323-PLAY in Sacramento.
