Starting at 11:30 Monday night, a small line formed inside the Corner Express Exxon in Henderson. The store was crowded for so late at night.
Regina Vandiver and her mother-in-law, Vickie Rhodes, were the first two people in line to buy lottery tickets.
"I want some money!" Vandiver said, cash in hand.
"Come on, Mama needs a new pair of shoes," Rhodes chimed in.
The women shared a cigarette and counted down the minutes according to the official "lottery clock" behind the counter. When the clock hit 12:01 a.m., each bought $3 worth and hurried off to a nearby table to see what she won.
Vandiver won $5.
Both women seemed disappointed the prize wasn't more.
"That's all right, I had one winning ticket," Vandiver said. "That was worth it; I was the first winner."
Debra Tompkins of Henderson waited in line with a wad of cash in her hand.
"Twenty-five dollars worth," she said. "My limit - same as when I go to Tunica."
Doing slightly better than breaking even quickly became the goal of the first ticket buyers Tuesday morning.
"Five dollars is better than nothing," Vandiver said. "It's more than I spent on these tickets."
7 a.m. - Winning, and trying again
Running quickly inside to avoid the 15 degree arctic chill early Tuesday morning, Crystal Julian headed straight to the counter at the Corner Express.
There she shook off the cold and then plunked down $5 for three Lucky 7's and two Tennessee Millionaire scratch-off tickets.
"I like it, like it, like it!" she said exuberantly, scratching away at her first Tennessee Lottery tickets.
She didn't end up a millionaire, but she did get $2 back on her last Lucky 7 card, matching three vertical 7s on the tic-tac-doe board. She also won a free ticket.
On her way to the Sav-A-Lot in Henderson, where she's an assistant manager, Julian wanted to try her luck at the games.
"I'll probably play quite a bit," she said. "I think it's really good for the schools and with the scholarships."
Although the Corner Express is open 24 hours and sold its first ticket at 12:01 Tuesday morning, Julian wasn't excited enough to get in line that late - or that early, depending on your point of view.
"No, I was in bed," she said with a laugh.
Encouraged by her early success, Julian decided to try her luck again, promptly buying another $5 worth of Lucky 7's.
Hoping for even more?
"Yes, I am," she said.
And, in fact, she did hit a bigger jackpot - this time, she won $4.
Julian was among several winners at the Corner Express, which had sold more than 300 tickets between 12:01 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.
"I'm not sure how much money that was (the scratch-off tickets cost $1, $2 and $5), but I know we had two registers going and three people working it," said Sherry Bullman, a night cashier. "One guy bought $100 worth."
Bullman said the biggest winner took in $40.
The store will pay up to $50 in cash for all winning tickets under $600, with the remainder paid by check. And any winners of $50 or less can redeem their tickets between 7 a.m. and midnight, and all other winnings will be paid by a manager between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays only.
Store manager Judy Cagle said the turnout for tickets was good, but "not quite as big as we first thought."
Noon - Trying to keep up
"This thing has been a blessing and a curse," said Susan Livingston, working the lunch-time shift at the Little General No. 35 CQ store at the corner of Church and Broad Street in Lexington.
Jeff Hayes of Lexington won $100 after buying $10 worth of lottery tickets. Hayes, the store's biggest winner so far, bought his tickets right after noon.
"I only scratched that one," Hayes said, receiving the money order for his prize. "I've still got a whole mess of them out in the car."
Working extra hours and helping the mobs of people buying tickets kept her busy all day Tuesday, Livingston said.
The store began selling lottery tickets at 5 a.m. Tuesday morning. They had been busy selling tickets all day, said Jean Kyle, the store's manager.
"This morning they wanted lottery tickets with their breakfast," Kyle said. Everyone wanted to get tickets before they went to work, she added.
Rachel Fuller of Lexington bought $11 worth of tickets but didn't win anything. Her husband and some of his friends from work go to Kentucky every week to play in the Kentucky Lottery.
"I'm just chancing it, I guess," Fuller said. "You either win, or you don't."
3 p.m. - 'We've had a lot of new customers'
Nobody had won any major money, but a number of stores selling lottery tickets in South Jackson saw significant increases in store traffic by Tuesday afternoon.
"It's been good so far ... we've had a lot of new customers," said Brandon Lindsey, owner of Madison South Liquor and Wine. "We had quite a few this morning. I guess a lot of people wanted to see what the tickets look like."
By 3 p.m., the store had sold between 400 to 500 tickets, and paid out a few $20 winners, but mostly small prizes, Lindsey estimated.
"But that's a lot of traffic for us, especially before 5 p.m. when we normally do the majority of our sales," Lindsey said.
Tobacco Place II in South Jackson had sold about 1,200 tickets by 3 p.m., said owner Keith Davis. The biggest payouts by mid-afternoon were a few $35 winners, he said.
"We've been really overwhelmed, but I knew today would be a big day," Davis said about the state lottery kick-off.
Though he likes the increased store traffic, he has some concerns about it. It takes up far more of his employee's time selling tickets, which "are not so profitable." As a vendor, he gets 6.5 percent of ticket sales. Davis said he will have to increase his part-time employees' hours, and maybe even hire another.
"We're just going to have to test it out for three or four months to see what we need to do," Davis said. "But regular sales (of tobacco products) are right on schedule."
The Kwik Silver Texaco station in South Jackson planned to start selling tickets Tuesday, but the computer that accounts for the tickets was not working.
7 p.m. - Jackson man wins big
Jackson resident Jimmy Fowler had never gambled a day in his life.
But he's $7,000 richer from a Lucky 7 scratch-off Tennessee lottery ticket that he purchased at the Greyhound Bus Station on Tuesday afternoon.
"I bought three Lucky 7's and two Tennessee Millionaires," Fowler said Tuesday night while out celebrating with friends. "This money is definitely coming at the right time because now I can help my daughters."
Fowler plans to play the lottery at least once a week but he doesn't plan to watch all of his winnings go down the drain.
"I'm going to bank some," Fowler said.
Other Jacksonians, hearing of Fowler's fortune, bought tickets in local stores.
East Jackson resident Maggie Neal broke even Tuesday night, but she's not discouraged. Neal only spent $20 in scratch-off tickets.
"I always said that if the lottery came to Tennessee that I would play," said Neal, who has a system for scratching off her tickets. "I think it's lucky to scratch it off in the store."
But Billy Fuller believes he's luckier at home.
"This is my second time buying tickets today," said Fuller, who used to drive to Kentucky or Missouri to play the lottery. "Now that it's here, I won't have to travel as far."
Other scratch-off seekers had to do a little driving around to find a lottery ticket.
"I'm going to try another store," said Thomas Fuller, who stopped Tuesday night at the East Chester Express.
The store's lottery machine was not operating Tuesday morning, said store owner Ziyad Qaadan.
"I've had to turn a lot of people away," Qaadan said. "But I was told we would be up and running on Wednesday."
Royal Liquor and Check Cashing stayed busy Tuesday, with an estimated 1,285 scratch-off tickets sold by 8 p.m.
"We've been real busy on ticket sales," said store manager Freddie Walker. "Some people have been cashing checks and buying tickets."
"The store will pay up to $50 in cash for all winning tickets under $600, with the remainder paid by check. And any winners of $50 or less can redeem their tickets between 7 a.m. and midnight, and all other winnings will be paid by a manager between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays only."
They won't be in the lottery business for long with those cashing restrictions....some sales consultant didn't do their job with this one....
in PA, any retailer can cut you a check for up to $2500.00. I have already been behind a player who cashed in a $1 straight pick 3 ticket and was paid $500 in cash. THey have a separate drawer for lottery money, and when it's gone, out come the checks. (I believe $2,500 is paid as a check only, my grandfather once cashed in 5 winning 0.50 straight tickets on the big 4, they gave him a $2500 check for each on the spot ($12,500... not a bad payday, but for how long he played... probably didn't break even), no trip to the regional office necessary (because he played multiple 50 cent tickets, had they been $1 straight they couldn't do anything but verify it was a winner))
"Play Here, We PAY Here", an old ad for the lottery daily games, is still in some retailer windows.
2,501 to 5,000 can be claimed at a few regional offices, and over 5,000 must be collected in Mechanicsburg, PA (just south of Harrisburg).
"The store will pay up to $50 in cash for all winning tickets under $600, with the remainder paid by check. And any winners of $50 or less can redeem their tickets between 7 a.m. and midnight, and all other winnings will be paid by a manager between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays only."
They won't be in the lottery business for long with those cashing restrictions....some sales consultant didn't do their job with this one....
Vince- that was a great catch. Seems to me that store manager should get a friendly policy reminder from HQ.
in PA, any retailer can cut you a check for up to $2500.00. I have already been behind a player who cashed in a $1 straight pick 3 ticket and was paid $500 in cash. THey have a separate drawer for lottery money, and when it's gone, out come the checks. (I believe $2,500 is paid as a check only, my grandfather once cashed in 5 winning 0.50 straight tickets on the big 4, they gave him a $2500 check for each on the spot ($12,500... not a bad payday, but for how long he played... probably didn't break even), no trip to the regional office necessary (because he played multiple 50 cent tickets, had they been $1 straight they couldn't do anything but verify it was a winner))
"Play Here, We PAY Here", an old ad for the lottery daily games, is still in some retailer windows.
2,501 to 5,000 can be claimed at a few regional offices, and over 5,000 must be collected in Mechanicsburg, PA (just south of Harrisburg).