No $50K bonus for Washington retailer who sold winning lottery ticket

Mar 10, 2016, 8:43 am (43 comments)

Washington Lottery

If you're Nirbhai Singh, 36, who started out delivering for Pizza Hut and now owns a couple of 7-Elevens, what else can you do but be philosophical about losing out on $50,000?

It was his West Seattle store at 9200 35th Ave. S.W. that sold the winning $157 million ticket in Tuesday's Mega Millions jackpot.

The winner has yet to come forward.

As for Singh, whom everybody calls "Sonny," until last year his store would have gotten a $50,000 bonus for selling a winning Powerball or Mega Millions ticket.

Lots of states have such bonuses as a way to entice stores to participate.

But last year, in wrangling out a budget, the Washington Legislature decided that, hey, we can increase revenue by reducing commissions to stores selling lottery tickets.

The state got rid of all bonuses, including 1 percent for jackpots in the state Lotto and Hit 5. In Fiscal 2015 that had amounted to $468,000, spread among 57 retailers.

So. Time to be philosophical.

"That's OK. What can I do?" says Sonny. "It's the law. It's not just something done to me."

Still.

"It'd have been nice to wake up and get $50,000," he says.

His family is from India, and he's worked hard to own those two 7-Elevens. The pizza delivery, then driving for a limo service, getting help from his parents to buy his first franchise, putting in the hours at the store.

Sonny says he had to explain to his employees that he really wasn't getting a bonus that could possibly be shared with them.

"They were wondering," says Sonny.

An association that represents independent grocers in this state says its 385 members "are pretty angry" about the end of bonuses.

"This happened right at the tail end of the last session. There was never a bill or any discussion," says Jan Gee, head of the Washington Food Industry Association. "It was one of those things they did behind closed doors."

The amorphous legislative staff decided it needed $12 million more from the lottery.

So gone were the big bonuses to stores, gone were commissions for selling jackpot tickets in the state Lotto and in Hit 5.

And decreased from 6 percent to 5 percent were commissions for selling tickets to individual state games, and decreased from 7 percent to 5 percent were commissions for selling tickets for multi-state games.

"It's discouraging when this happens," says Gee.

There weren't many big bonuses such as the $50,000 that would have been given to Sonny.

But when it happened, says Gee, "A small, family-owned type store could buy a new refrigeration unit, or a new oven for the bakery."

The Washington Lottery says it is planning to celebrate Sonny's 7-Eleven selling the winning $157 million ticket with a media event and some big signs for his store.

See, Sonny?

Win-win.

News story photo(Click to display full-size in gallery)

Seattle Times

Comments

Bleudog101

That is terrible news that the Legislature snuck (probably) this through.  What angers me most is that lotteries are self sufficient and the bonus would have been paid through the lottery sales, not the State.

haymaker's avatarhaymaker

"all bonuses"

Does that include lottery execs and employees ?

VenomV12

That's a lot of BS, the store owners should refuse to sell tickets until their bonuses are reinstated. They have the power since they are the conduit for tickets to be sold, no tickets equals no money for the state. In fact getting only $50,000 for selling a $157 million ticket is nonsense in itself, you should get much much more than that. I wonder how much the state would lose if all the stores didn't sell tickets for one week, heck, one day? I bet it would be a whole lot more than they are trying to steal from the store owners. 

music*'s avatarmusic*

 The Washington legislature should be ashamed of themselves for sneaking this law in the middle of the night. 

 VOTE people VOTE!!!

 This kind of behavior is what makes us angry.

White Bounce

noise-gate

Awful,  just awful.  What the lottery Commission is saying is  " We going to show up with Balloons & a Press conference to highlight your store"..Things Mr Singh can do on his own dime.

Raven62's avatarRaven62

Quote: Originally posted by VenomV12 on Mar 10, 2016

That's a lot of BS, the store owners should refuse to sell tickets until their bonuses are reinstated. They have the power since they are the conduit for tickets to be sold, no tickets equals no money for the state. In fact getting only $50,000 for selling a $157 million ticket is nonsense in itself, you should get much much more than that. I wonder how much the state would lose if all the stores didn't sell tickets for one week, heck, one day? I bet it would be a whole lot more than they are trying to steal from the store owners. 

I Agree!Lottery Agents should Strike and Lottery Players should Boycott the Washington State Lottery!

SoleWinner21

I always wondered if theses stores that sell lotto tickets get any compensation besides for selling a winning ticket. Or is it just for the enticement to get people into their stores when they advertise the lotto.

dr65's avatardr65

Keep the balloons and party. Give him his money.

Groppo's avatarGroppo

THIS IS HORRIBLE.

What shenanigans can we expect next?   

No, which state will be subject next to similar shenanigans?

Groppo's avatarGroppo

Quote: Originally posted by music* on Mar 10, 2016

 The Washington legislature should be ashamed of themselves for sneaking this law in the middle of the night. 

 VOTE people VOTE!!!

 This kind of behavior is what makes us angry.

White Bounce

Mr. MUSIC*,

I agree.  Instead of laying down on the tracks, waiting for the political
locomotive to run us over, we need to be heard, and not HERDED! 

Mr Groppo

Optimist Prime

This is just a disincentive from retails to support the lottery why create extra work for nothing.

s5thomps's avatars5thomps

Total BS! What is the incentive of selling a winning ticket if the store that sold it cant get a bonus. If I purchased the ticket at that store I would give the owner a 100,000 bonus just to spite the lottery. It's the right thing to do.

dallascowboyfan's avatardallascowboyfan

Quote: Originally posted by dr65 on Mar 10, 2016

Keep the balloons and party. Give him his money.

I Agree!

lejardin's avatarlejardin

What a crock, what else is going to be cut?  Payoff to the winner or holding up funds? 

Wonder how many retailers are aware of this? 

"This happened right at the tail end of the last session. There was never a bill or any discussion," says Jan Gee, head of the Washington Food Industry Association. "It was one of those things they did behind closed doors."

Key word "behind closed doors", standard political garbage continues....this state is getting horrible.

Subscribe to this news story