Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 11, 1991 TAG: 9103110138
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BEN BEAGLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The left-turn test is just one of several that retailers must pass before they are allowed to have an on-line Lotto terminal, the department says.
And there are potential vendors who don't pass these tests.
Mark Merritt, sales manager of the lottery's Roanoke regional office, said he gets a half-dozen phone calls a week asking about joining in what the Lottery Department likes to call "Lottomania."
These calls appear to pick up, he said, when there is a big Lotto jackpot - possibly because non-Lotto retailers see more traffic in stores with terminals and want to join the action.
Many of these callers are disappointed. Paula Otto, the department's public information director, said just eight to 10 new terminals are installed each week statewide.
She said the department doesn't keep records of phone calls inquiring about getting a terminal; thus there is no way to tell the percentage of disappointed callers.
Otto said lottery investigators look at several things, such as left-hand turns, before recommending approval of retailers to Lottery Director Ken Thorson.
Among these are the layout of the store, whether there is a pay phone and whether parking is easy.
The department also makes notes about how the retailer uses in-store advertising furnished by the department and how far gone he or she is in "Lottomania."
"We look at who the best retailer is going to be," she said. And there are times when "we may not feel" an applicant "is the best retailer."
Merritt, who manages a 13-county region that had 182 Lotto terminals as of late February, says the department wants the state and the retailer to be happy with sales.
"We want them to be profitable," he said. "Sometimes they may not agree with us."
Merritt said he expects the number of terminals in his region to grow to 200 by the end of the month.
Included will be one in Shawsville, midway between the Roanoke and New River valleys, he said.
In rural areas, the department likes to make sure people don't have to drive more than 10 miles to play the game, Merritt said.
Qualifying to sell $1 instant lottery tickets - the latest is a game called "Break the Bank" in which customers scratch off a pig on their cards to see if they have won - is easy.
A retailer submits to a credit check, posts a bond and that's it. Qualification for Pick 3, a lower-paying terminal game, also is not as complicated as for the pick-six Lotto.
A Lotto retailer can make a substantial amount of money. The state gives a nickel for every $1 ticket sold. The same is true for instant and Pick 3 sales.
George and Sid's, a Bristol convenience store that does across-the-state-line business, led the state during the first year of Lotto with sales of $825,000. That means a revenue of $41,250 for the store during that period.
For the sales week ending Feb. 19, the Roanoke region sold $870,606 worth of Lotto tickets. In doing so, it outdid regions with headquarters in Abingdon, Harrisonburg and Farmville.
It was close to the $882,338 Lotto ticket sales in 385 outlets in the Fairfax region in Northern Virginia - where lottery sales overall have been disappointing to the Lottery Department.
***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on Thursday, March 14, 1991 in the Evening edition.\ Correction
The steps a retailer must take to qualify to sell Pick-3 and Lotto tickets in Virginia's lottery are the same, Due to a reporter's error, a recent story said there was a difference in the steps and suggested an incorrect procedure. A qualified retailer sells both Pick-3 and Lotto tickets.
Memo: correction