South Carolina retailers gear up for new lottery

Kim Baca

Friday, Dec. 14, 2001 | 10:06 a.m.

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- As Glise Earnhardt and her husband Mike sat at the South Carolina Education Lottery's training session for retailers, a smile swept across their faces contemplating their rewards from the games.

"We had video poker machines and when they were (banned), people were looking for something else," said Glise Earnhardt, who owns Batten's general store and restaurant in Wedgefield. "With this, we hope to make a little money and draw people into the store."

The Earnhardts were one of 25 retailers at a two-hour lottery training session last week designed to help retailers become familiar with lottery machines before the games kick off Jan. 7.

Proceeds from the lottery will be used to fund the South Carolina HOPE Scholarship, which will pay $2,000 toward the first year at a four-year state college.

So far, out of 3,700 retailers more than 2,100 have received a license, lottery spokeswoman Tara Robertson said.

The commission wants to have about 3,000 retailers across the state selling tickets, she said.

Most businesses are eligible for a license, except liquor stores. But they must pass background checks by the State Law Enforcement Division and Revenue Department before being issued a license, Robertson said.

Beauty salons, convenience stores, fabric shops, grocery stores and furniture rental businesses have received licenses so far. Many of the licenses have been issued to mom-and-pop-type convenience stores, Robertson said.

Many retailers, like the Earnhardts, say they hope to make up for revenue lost when the Legislature outlawed video gambling, ending the $3 billion-a-year industry last year.

"It was definitely a dent in our income," said Mike Earnhardt, who did not say how much he lost from video gambling. "But we made money."

Lottery retailers will earn a 7 percent commission on the sale of each $1 or $2 lottery ticket, Robertson said. Some states allow commission for retailers who sell a big winning ticket, however, South Carolina legislators did not include this provision, she said.

Like the Earnhardts, Philomena Connelly, a fitness club manager in Greenville, also hopes to bring in customers as well as dollars with the sale of lottery tickets.

"Membership has declined because of New York," Connelly said of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "Regular members haven't been in to work out and are staying in more thinking, 'I'd better go home to my family.' "

Don Nye, owner of a meat market in Columbia who received training with his son on Thursday, also hopes to cash in on lottery ticket traffic.

Nye, who did not own any video gambling machines because he didn't want "people hanging around," admits he's not sure what to expect when lottery tickets go on sale. But he likes the idea that the lottery is going toward education and the games won't disrupt the flow of business.

"I just hope people will scratch-off and be gone," he said.