Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

South Carolina launches Pick 3 numbers game

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Retailers reported slower ticket sales for the first day of the Pick 3 game than the lottery's Jan. 7 kickoff, but officials from the South Carolina Education Lottery said sales had surpassed estimates by noon Thursday.

More than 2,600 retailers across the state began selling tickets for the Pick 3 game.

Columbia area retailers reported smooth -- if slow -- sales Thursday morning.

"We've sold maybe $12 worth of tickets -- and I bought $5," said Cameron Stoner, manager of the Carolina Convenience store on Harbison Boulevard.

That's quite a change from the first week of the games, when lottery ticket sales were "unreal," Stoner said.

"It's not like the first games," agreed Barbara Pate, assistant manager at the Tiger Express convenience store at Blossom and Huger streets. When the first scratch-off tickets went on sale Jan. 7, lottery commission Chairman John C.B. Smith, Gov. Jim Hodges, Columbia Mayor Bob Coble and a throng of media were at Pate's store.

It was business as usual Thursday, but Pate still reported about $200 in Pick 3 sales in the game's first few hours.

Columbia resident Karl Knizek was one of the customers trying out the new game Thursday. He spent $20 playing birthdays.

One of the biggest challenges was teaching players about the game and retailers about the system connecting them to the lottery's main computer, said lottery Chief Operating Officer Tony Cooper.

Knizek said he played similar games about once a week in New York, but understood that it might seem difficult to others. "It's new to everybody," he said.

Pate said her employees have spent more time explaining the game to customers. "These things are confusing to people. It's taking a while to explain to people how to fill out the slips," she said.

Players can select three numbers from zero to nine for a chance to win up to $500 on the game. They also can choose a Quick Pick, which allows the system to select a random number.

The lottery had sold more than $411,000 in Pick 3 ticket sales as of 5 p.m., officials said.

Scientific Games, the lottery's primary vendor, had estimated daily ticket sales of about $103,000.

In comparison, Kentucky had $326,592 in sales the first week of their Pick 3 game in 1989, South Carolina Education Lottery Executive Director Ernie Passailaigue said.

Some of the retailers had phone lines that were down or not connected, but no major glitches were reported Thursday, Cooper said.

That's despite technology concerns that cropped up before the games began, when AT&T said it couldn't meet the March deadline to build the network needed to link ticket retailers to the central lottery computer.

The network is unnecessary for scratch-off tickets, but numbers games such as Pick 3 can't start without it.

Faced with a daily fine of up to $250,000 for any delays beyond Wednesday, the Alpharetta, Ga.-based Scientific Games contracted with BellSouth to use Internet technology known as "virtual private networks" to connect the main lottery computer with about 2,000 of 3,100 retailers. AT&T was connecting the rest through digital phone lines.

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