RICHMOND, Va. — A Virginia House of Delegates subcommittee jettisoned legislation that would have allowed the Virginia Lottery to sell tickets on the Internet.
Convenience store owners were among those opposed to the bill that would have opened the door to online gambling. This is the first time a Virginia Assembly Committee has voted on the issue.
Del. Roxann Robinson introduced the bill, which was defeated 6-1 in a House General Laws subcommittee. "The commonwealth is always looking for additional funding for K-12 dollars," Roberts said. "And so the lottery has come up with this idea to allow same-day ticket sales of the large games, Powerball and Mega Millions." Currently, three other states allow online gambling similar to what Robinson proposed.
Virginia Lottery officials attempted to placate retailers by offering them exclusive rights to daily games like Pick Four and Pick Three, which represent 30% of lottery sales in the state. But convenience stores weren't convinced that would help them retain sales. "We've come to depend on the lottery customers coming in regularly and buying other items as well," said Charlie Parker of Parker Oil. "Despite all the assurances, many other retailers [and I] really feel strongly concerned about maintaining commission sales and incidental sales other than lottery tickets."
"We thank the committee members who listened to the concerns voiced by Virginia businesses on the impact passage would have had on the convenience store industry, including lost incidental sales, underage purchasers, credit card and debit fees and the like," said Mike O'Connor, president of Virginia Petroleum Convenience and Grocery Association.
Other states have been tinkering with their lotteries lately, with some considering allowing for purchase with a credit or debit card instead of cash.
Great, so now lottery players get the privilege of providing extra income for convenience stores without any benefits. Short end of the stick.
Lottery is a voluntary tax and a hand out to store owners who aren't competetive?
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As much as I enjoy my lotto week after week, hoping to win, if I had my way, I'd vote a big fat NO to online lotto,
for the reason of traffic safety concerns of the ignorant drivers 'out there'. I ride a recently purchased motorcycle, and I was ignorantly almost cut-off by a cell phone user. I went around her, and blasted my horn. And, I saw the cell pone in her hand. So at the red light, I stopped, and she passed by me and made some kind of comment, as she made her right turn and headed in that direction.
Anyway, my folks took us to Virginia Beach when we were all young, and I was stung by a jelly fish. So, Virginia, has always been that black cloud of a state for me. That was a few decades ago, but I still remember how I suffered from that painful sting.
Mr. Groppo
How is this related?
You think drivers who text and drive will now shop lotto tix and drive? If people can buy from their phone they can keep off the street.
So much for Progressive Thinking!
How free are we making our own choices whether playing at the store or online. The internet should be a choice for all lottery games big and small. Offering only the games with the worst odds at winning smh
You are aware that control of the Internet has been turned over to the United Nations by Obama! Right?
I guess they don't like free markets.
I love it here in Kentucky, and don't and never will consider it a progressive state (look @ McConnell and Paul...lol), BUT this is the way to go. Twice so far they've offered $5 free if you buy a $20 amount @ the store and have done it once so far on-line. It is too convenient.
MaximumMillions: Do they offer that in Deutschland???
Some states offer promotions and sign-up bonuses, but it's not often. There's also almost never any kind of package where you buy 5 lines and get one free or 5 tickets for 5€ or what have you.
There are often special draws though where your ticket doubles as a raffle ticket, like on St. Nicolaus Day (Dec 6) and around special events. They are really stingy here.
Too bad it didn't pass.
Here we can play PB, MM, L4L and Cashball. Can also play Instant tickets. With the latter what I don't like is you cannot find out if top prizes have been paid out. On regular Instant tickets you can look up how many top prizes are left. Besides that, am very pleased that we can play on-line in Kentucky.
I need some help with number interpretation from all my great number astrologers on lottery post. Yesterday my dreams where going crazy. We have a new president Trump Great. However am from Florida my lucky number is 765 and yesterday Jan 20th my lucky number came in Florida day time 567. But also yesterday Trump became president and at night on Jan 20th 6666 came out in New York does this mean anything am checking my Nostradamus book for update. And second Trump said we all bleed red but however trump bleeds green money money money :)
Shouldn't we the lottery players be the ones voting on this issue?
If the issue affects you Yes and if it doesn't No :)
How many people actually make a dedicated trip to the convenience store to buy lottery tickets? Don't most convenience store sales come from drive-bys and gas purchasers, and wouldn't those sales be relatively unaffected by online sales?