Georgia businesses not worried Tenn. lottery will hurt local sales

Sep 17, 2003, 2:58 am (Post a comment)

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Rossville, Georgia store owners say they arent worried the Tennessee Lottery, which is expected to launch early next year, will dam the stream of money flowing from Tennessees gamblers.

Legislation creating the lottery corporation was signed into law by Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen on June 11, according to the lottery Web site at www.tnlottery.gov.

Subsequently, Governor Bredesen announced appointments to the new seven-member lottery board on July 1, the Web site reads. Proceeds from the future sale of lottery tickets will be used to fund college scholarships for eligible Tennessee students.

Ann McNeese owns Plaza Video and Lottery, the first store selling Georgia Lottery tickets as one enters Rossville from Tennessee. She said ticket sales may dip temporarily, but the effect will be slight.

Tennessee Lottery is not combining with Georgia, which Im glad of that, McNeese said. That worried me when they were talking about combining both states together. Im worried a little (about sales), but not a whole lot.

People will play in both Georgia and Tennessee, she said. Tennessee is going to have their own games.

McNeese said it took up to eight months after the Georgia Lotterys initiation to get all of the scratch cards and machinery in place, and five more years to reach its current sales level.

I figure its going to take at least a couple of more years for Tennessee to get where were at, she said.

Store owners earn $15 for each pack of 300 scratch tickets, and five to seven cents on the dollar for each lottery ticket, she said.

Annette Hargis manages a Favorite Market convenience store on James Street in Rossville. Although she said she believes stores closer to the state line will be strongly affected by the new games north of the border, her sales will see little change.

It will probably affect us a little, but most of the people that play it now are from this area, Hargis said. Theres not a whole lot of people from Tennessee that come to this store.

Rossville officials said the city may indirectly see a slight dip in revenue, but the city does not earn money from lottery sales.

Our gasoline prices (in Georgia) are attractive enough to lure people across the line if they are close, Rossville Mayor Johnny Baker said. We have places right on the line. While theyre in there, they can play the lottery.

City Clerk Sherry Foster said sales tax collections from other sales at lottery venders may obliquely impact the local economy.

In Catoosa

Chris Coker, manager of Favorite Market across from Lake Winnepesaukah Amusement Park, said her store is less than a half mile from the Tennessee line, and nearly 75 percent of the store's lottery players are from the volunteer state.

Coker predicts the new lottery's impact on Georgia's lottery will be short-lived.

"To start with, our customers will buy lottery tickets in Tennessee, but once the newness wears off they'll come back," she said. "Most of our people are regular customers who come here for the gas prices."

Walker County Messenger

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