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OFFICIALS PLAN CEREMONIAL LOTTERY TICKET PURCHASE

By Wes Clement/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Saturday, September 26, 2009 9:47 PM CDT

Two Pine Bluff higher education officials have planned to be among 13 Arkansas educators to purchase lottery tickets Monday morning.

Dr. Lawrence A. Davis Jr., chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and Dr. Phil Shirley, president of Southeast Arkansas College, plan to participate in a ceremonial ticket purchase at the EZ Mart store located at 200 N. University Drive Monday at 11 a.m.

Arkansas Lottery Commission has scheduled the sale of scratch-off tickets to begin Monday and the commission is working toward a goal of making Powerball tickets available Oct. 31.

“If a retailer was not licensed before Sept.10, we may not have them up and running by Monday,” Julie Baldridge, lottery commission spokeswoman said. “By Sept. 10 we had about 1,500 retailers licensed, and now we have about 1,800.”

About 165 Southeast Arkansas retailers have been licensed by the lottery commission, including more than 50 in Jefferson County, though Baldridge said since the number changes each day, she did not know how many of those retailers have received the necessary MicroLot terminals and communications satellites.

The terminals, she said, are needed for activating scratch-off tickets. They are also used to create Powerball tickets. Powerball is a multi-state lottery system that allows customers a chance of winning jackpots of millions of dollars.

Georgia-based Intralot is responsible for installing the equipment.

Drew Scolaro, Intralot’s Arkansas retailer recruitment and training coordinator, said last week there are about 20 crews working around the state to equip stores.

Vendors are required to pass a Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal background check and a check for back taxes owed. Baldridge said the two requirements have slowed the process of getting retailers ready to sell tickets.

“We’re just excited about the launch and we’re hoping for the best,” Baldridge said. “We’re not worried about it because we’ve done our very best to prepare.”

A list of retailers planning to sell lottery tickets is available on the lottery commission’s web site. A partial list in the Pine Bluff area includes:

TOBACCO SUPERSTORE

1620 Brentwood

BIG RED

1802 E. Harding Ave.

DUCK IN & GO

10501 U.S. 63 S

SEVEN ELEVEN LIQUOR

1519 S. Ohio St.

E & N EXPRESS

1313 E. Harding Ave.

STOP & SHOP

1100 W. 16th Ave.

MR C BEER MART

412 E. Harding Ave.

PAWN CITY

400 E. Harding Ave.

FIVE STAR FOOD AND FUEL LLC

1620 Main St.

BIG RED FINA

3219 S. Olive St.

MURPHY OIL USA

5601 S. Olive St.

E & N EXPRESS

1519 S. Cherry St.

SHELL FOOD MART 2

2801 Hazel St.

M.R. PETROLEUM

3100 S. Hazel St.

EZ MART 346

200 University Drive

BIG RED VALERO

2317 W. 28th Ave.

CIRCLE N 65

4711 B U.S. 65 S

28TH STREET CITGO

2901 W. 28th Ave.

OAK PARK LIQUOR

3108 W. 28th Ave.

CRACKERBOX

2202 Oliver St., White Hall

BLAKE ST ONE STOP

2215 S. Blake St.

TOWN & COUNTRY

5000 Middle Warren Road

EZ MART 362

3110 S. Camden Road

SHELL FOOD MART

3701 Ryburn Road

CRACKERBOX

5001 Dollarway Road, White Hall

DOUBLE HEADER INC.

5316 Dollarway Road, Suite C, White Hall

UNITED FILLIN STATION

5320 Dollarway Road, White Hall

CHAPEL R-N-FOODS

5901 Sulphur Springs Road

RICK'S QUIK STOP

6000 W. Barraque St., Pine Bluff

KWIK CHEK FOOD MART

800 N. Bryant St., White Hall

M.R. PETROLEUM

13512 U.S. 79 N, Altheimer

M.R. PETROLEUM

201 Edline Ave., Altheimer

D&S QUIK STOP

6708 Sulphur Springs Road

For a detailed list of lottery retailers by zip code, visit www.myarkansaslottery.com

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