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FORDYCE RETAILERS LEAD STATE IN LOTTERY SALES

By Scott Loftis/SPECIAL TO THE COMMERCIAL
Sunday, October 25, 2009 12:03 AM CDT

Dallas County retailers say they haven’t seen an influx of customers buying lottery tickets, despite a recently released report that the county led the state in per-capita ticket revenue in the lottery’s first two weeks.

According to the state Lottery Commission, Dallas County retailers sold an average of $17.64 for each resident in the county from Sept. 28 to Oct. 11. The commission’s report said $143,700 worth of tickets were sold in Dallas County, which had a 2008 population of 8,144 according to the United States Census Bureau.

“It’s not really that big a deal,” said Gary Jackson, owner of Food Mart in Fordyce. “We’re selling quite a few. Usually if somebody comes in and buys something and they have a couple dollars change coming back they just say, ‘Give me a couple of dollars worth of lottery tickets.’

“We haven’t had any big single payouts, but we’re paying out a lot of money.”

Rex Hearne, owner of Rex’s Liquor Store in Fordyce, said his regular customers have accounted for most of his store’s ticket sales.

“My regular customers will buy a ticket occasionally,” Hearne said. “It hasn’t been a big windfall here at my store. Nobody has come in just to buy a lottery ticket.

“I don’t understand why Dallas County, per capita, was leading the state,” Hearne said. “It really has befuddled me. I don’t understand it. I think a lot of other people around here are surprised. But we are a very sparsely populated county, so per capita, it’s probably true.”

Based strictly on gross sales. Dallas County ranked 32nd in the state. Pulaski County led the state in gross sales with $4,557,600, an average of $12.10 for each of that county’s 376,797 residents.

Jefferson County was also among the leaders in per-capita lottery purchases with gross sales of $1,016,100. That’s an average of $12,96 for each of the county’s 78,373 residents, which ranked fifth in per-capita spending. Jefferson County’s gross sales were second in the state.

Sandy Johnson, owner of Pawn City on East Harding Avenue in Pine Bluff, said his business has shorter hours and therefore won’t sell as many tickets as some other locations.

“We’re not going to have as much traffic as, say, a convenience store or a tobacco store. Those are by far going to outdo us,” Johnson said.

But Johnson said his business is drawing more customers since the lottery started.

“Most of them are just coming in here to get lottery tickets,” he said. “Sometimes it happens the other way. Somebody will come in to pick up a pawn or buy something and they’ll buy a ticket or two. We’re seeing more traffic.”

Denise Daniel, manager of the Tobacco Superstore on Brentwood, said several customers there buy multiple tickets. Retailers keep 5 percent of gross ticket sales.

Daniel said the extra responsibilities that come with selling the lottery tickets can be taxing.

“Sometimes it is stressful, because you have some people that are here the first thing in the morning when you open or when you have to do shift change and they’re wanting their payouts,” she said. “It’s a little stressful but at the same time, you get people in here that you’ve never seen before so you get different attitudes and a different atmosphere. They actually seem to be happy that they’re going to be able to do something for the children, and try to get a little money on the side.”

Profits from the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery will be used to provide scholarships and grants to Arkansas residents enrolled in public and private nonprofit two-year and four-year colleges and universities within the state.

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