Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 3, 1992 TAG: 9203030340
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Kenneth Thorson, the lottery director, also raised the possibility that block tickets sold for a record $27 million Lotto jackpot on Feb. 15 might be invalid.
No one has stepped forward with the winning ticket, which was sold at a Chesapeake supermarket. The Farm Fresh store was one of many that reportedly sold up to $5 million in tickets to an Australian group that tried to buy all 7 million six-number Lotto combinations.
The board adopted emergency regulations placing limits on retailers that sell lottery tickets but refused to act on proposals that would place limits on buyers.
"We don't want to overreact to this," said Harris N. Miller, a board member. He said regulations that would curtail ticket sales would have "the potential of us cutting off our noses to spite our faces."
But Lotto player Ola Mitchell of Chesterfield County said the board did nothing to prevent another group from trying to buy out the jackpot.
"We're back to square one," said Mitchell, who spends $4 a week on Lotto tickets. "These people learned by their mistakes, and they can step right in and get it again."
Thorson insisted the regulations would prevent another block-ticket buying spree.
"We will not have someone attempt successfully to buy out the jackpot," he said. "Every lottery player will be treated precisely the same way."
The regulations must be signed by Gov. Doug Wilder before they take effect.
One regulation would bar retailers from allowing sales to exceed five times the amount of bond for that store unless the lottery director allows an exception. The bond is the insurance the state can collect if the store refuses to turn over lottery proceeds. Thorson said stores rarely sell more than the amount of their bond except when the jackpot is exceptionally large.
Another regulation bars retailers from accepting compensation from anyone other than the state for selling lottery tickets. Thorson said he had heard retailers were offered bonuses by players who bought large blocks of tickets for the Feb. 15 drawing.
A third regulation spells out that tickets must be sold in a store licensed to sell lottery tickets. "No part of the sale may take place away from the lottery terminal," the regulation states.
Reporters asked whether that might invalidate block ticket sales if they were arranged through a store's headquarters rather than at the store.
Thorson said the lottery has always required that ticket sales be done in the store and the new regulation merely adds clarifying language.
Farm Fresh has said a man gave the chain $2 million in cashier's checks and had pre-marked tickets sent by courier to 40 Farm Fresh stores. Susan Mayo, a spokeswoman for the supermarket chain, declined to comment Monday on the possibility that the sales might be invalid.
Thorson said anyone who brings in a winning ticket is questioned about how it was purchased.
"The lottery will review the ticket when it comes in," he said.
by CNB