Retailers were busy the first day of the Tennessee Lottery, but of the 3,500 retail locations selling the tickets less than 4 percent experienced major problems.
Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation (TELC) spokesperson Kym Gerlock said it was a good day overall with several $1,000 winners.
Problems that occurred included that some retailers had tickets, but not the equipment or software to sell them, others had the equipment, but not the tickets.
Lee Huang, owner of the Berry Hill Market, at 808 Bradford Ave., said he had a terrible experience early in the morning when the software was not working properly. But by mid-day, he said, he was up and running with a lot of customers wanting to play.
Other retailers said everything went smoothly. Among them is Patsy Smiley, owner of Smileys Hilltop Market on Highway 49 in Cheatham County.
Smiley said she had one question during the day and did not have to wait long before lottery officials answered the toll-free number retailers were given and helped her out.
"The hardware theyve given us is wonderful," Smiley said. "And the software that they have installed is super-easy to work."
Retailers pay a $95 application fee with free installation of equipment and software and a free training session how to use the system.
Retailers include the traditional lottery outlets such as convenience stores, gas stations, grocery stores, but also barbershops, beauty salons, laundromats and restaurants. Under state law, only pawn shops, cash-advance places and stores with the sole purpose of selling lottery tickets are illegal retailers.
Rumors were flying all day long about retailers having run out of tickets, players winning big during the first hours of the game and scam artists trying to cash in on winning tickets at different locations
"There is a lot of incorrect information floating around," Gerlock said. "Our security is such that were very confident that no matter what somebody tries to do, theyre not going to end up cheating education."
Maher Tadrous, owner of GM Discount Tobacco & Beer, at 2311 Franklin Pike, said he opened his store at 8 a.m. and was very busy throughout the day with the highest winners getting $15.
However, Tadrous said he was the only person working in his store and it was hard for him to cash tickets, a process which takes about five minutes, while other customers were waiting to be served.
He said he would know in about two months whether overall profit has increased enough to allow him to hire help. He said his profits through the sale of lottery tickets would not be enough to support hiring another worker.
Retail sellers receive 6.5 percent of every sale they make and will not get any extra for large winning tickets.
In about two weeks another four games will be added to the initial four games, then every two weeks another two games will be introduced.
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