Losing out on the lottery

Tuesday, February 21, 2006 posted 05:21 PM EST

Here it was, hours leading up to the biggest lottery drawing in the history of the United States, and Bobbi Sullivan was completely unaware of it.

That, in and of itself, is not surprising. Millions of Americans could care less about the Powerball lottery, much less drop a couple of bucks on the near-impossible dream of instant life-changing wealth.

Huge jackpots such as the one Feb. 18 for $365 million drawing serve as a Super Bowl Sunday of sorts for convenience store owners who border non-Powerball states. And until this year, Sullivan's store -- Fleming Convenience, located just off Interstate 35 in South Haven -- was one of many throughout the state that enjoyed flocks of customers heading north to buy Powerball tickets.

But since Oklahoma legalized Powerball sales in January, Kansas store owners are seeing just a trickle of customers instead of the customary flood that accompanied such a huge jackpot drawing.

"I didn't know it was up that high," Sullivan said of Saturday's drawing. "Usually, we'd have big ol' lines in here, but we haven't had any since Oklahoma began selling Powerball."

The winning ticket was sold in Nebraska, lottery officials have announced.

Since so little time has passed since Oklahoma legalized Powerball, Sullivan couldn't provide an exact dollar amount on the impact it's had on her store. But she's able to provide a specific example of how it's affected sales:

In December 2004, the Powerball jackpot reached $171 million. On one day leading up to the drawing, Sullivan's store did $18,500 in ticket sales. Since store owners collect six percent from each ticket sold, Sullivan's store earned $1,100 in revenue that day alone.

Now, she says the store is fortunate to generate $1,000 in sales on any day of the week, and $600 days are common. Rarely are there more than three people in line waiting to buy Powerball tickets.

The biggest loss, Sullivan says, is not from individual buyers who purchase $5 or $10 worth, but from people who drive up to buy hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars' worth of tickets. Often, they're buying for a group at work or for friends.

It was such a group of 13 machine shop workers in Westerville, Ohio, who, in 1998, cashed a $295.7 million ticket. Total investment: $130, or $10 per worker. They had been pooling their money for several years to buy lotttery tickets, driving to Indiana to make the purchase.

At Jiffy Trip on South Summit, one of the first stops in which one can buy lottery tickets upon crossing the state line, one of the two ticket machines has gone unused in 2006. That was never the case before Oklahoma got into the Powerball game and when jackpots reached stratospheric levels.

According to supervisor Mark Courtney, the store did $4,100 in ticket sales for the most recent drawing.

"We'd have had close to $10,000 if Oklahoma wasn't selling tickets," he said, recalling a time when an Oklahoma car salesman came into the store to buy $2,000 worth of tickets.

It was a familiar tune at Helms Retail Liquor, the first place across the state line on U.S. 77 to sell Powerball.

"We'd sell about $2,000 to $3,000 if not for Oklahoma," said Sheila Malone, store manager. "This weekend, we sold less than $1,000. It was a pretty noticeable dropoff."

Much of that kind of business is now gone for border convenience stores. And lottery tickets aren't the only area in which the stores suffer. Courtney estimates his store lost 10 percent of all business with Oklahoma's decision, although that is partially offset by the store needing to have fewer employees during what was once peak ticket selling times.

"We always had two employees and a manager floating around," Courtney said.

"During big Powerball drawings, I always had to come in from my home in Oklahoma to help out and work."

All is not lost for Sullivan and other store owners. A new multi-state lottery game, Hot Lotto, kicks off on March 17. Kansas is one of only seven states participating -- Powerball has 30.

"We're hoping that's going to build sales back up," Sullivan said.

Additionally, Sullivan still sees some Oklahoma traffic from those who insist that Kansas scratch-off lottery tickets, or scratchers, offer a better chance to win and bigger payouts than what's available in Oklahoma.

Some remain skeptical as to whether or not Kansas can regain lost lottery business.

"I don't think (Hot Lotto) will get people back," Courtney said.

Above: Beth Galbreath checks her lottery tickets at Jump Start as manager Jodi Angello looks on Tuesday morning.

Related Links
	Kansas Lottery Results
	Search Past Kansas Lottery Winning Numbers