Let the games begin!
Monday, March 27, 2006 posted 11:33 AM EST
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – North Carolina’s first scratch-off lottery tickets go on sale across the state Thursday – only six months after Governor Mike Easley signed the lottery bill into law.
In that short time a lottery commission was formed, a vendor was chosen and retailers signed on to sell tickets.
But are the games and retailers ready to go?
Michael Brawley of Brawley’s Beverages thinks so.
“Hopefully we can handle it; it’s our first time with anything like this so it will be interesting to see what happens,” he said.
At 6 a.m. Thursday, Brawley’s store will be one of 5,000 retailers switching on their lottery terminals. Brawley said his only concern is running out of tickets.
If the store should sell out, it could take up to three days, he said, to restock.
“It’s not like on online game where you can just go ahead keep on filling them out, filling them out; once these tickets are gone, they’re gone,” Brawley said.
As for the games themselves, Lottery Commissioner Jim Woodward said the commission has gone to great lengths to ensure a smooth launch, although minor technical glitches may arise.
“To be honest with you, we don’t see any major problems now,” he said.
Woodward said he doesn’t foresee long-term problems either. He said the man chosen to run the lottery, Executive Director Tom Shaheen, deserves praise for avoiding the pitfalls that might have delayed Thursday’s start date.
“We hired in Tom Shaheen, a true professional, and he brought into the organization outstanding people from around the country,” Woodward said.
Woodward, a former University of North Carolina at Charlotte chancellor, also reminds critics there’s an $8 million limit to advertising and 35 percent of proceeds must benefit education.
“I won’t serve on this lottery commission if the funds aren’t for education,” he said.
He estimates a billion dollars in sales in the first year. So retailers like Brawley, who will collect 7 percent of the sales, say let the games begin.
“I think we’ll have a big first day so hopefully we’re up to it,” Brawley said.
The first scratch-off tickets will be available in $1, $2 and $5 increments. North Carolina is scheduled to begin participating in the Powerball in May.
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