ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Mike Gray scratches a ticket a Cal’s News Store.
BY DILLON DURST
LYNN — The Massachusetts State Lottery’s roll of the dice to make tickets available online failed on Beacon Hill this week.
But Michael Sweeney, the agency’s executive director, said he hopes the measure that would sell tickets in a new way is approved in a different form. It’s in the lottery’s best interest to move online, Sweeney said, if it wants to stay relevant, and “not become the next bingo.”
But convenience store owners have lined up against the proposal because it would cut into their profits.
Subash Biswa, owner of Friendly Market on Munroe Street, said he opposes online lottery sales because it would hurt his store’s bottom line. Biswa said he makes as much as $2,000 a day on scratch tickets and customers often buy other items in addition to purchasing a ticket.
“It will definitely hurt my business,” he said.
Barry Calvani, a third-generation owner of Cal’s News Store on Central Avenue, said lottery sales are a big part of his revenue. He said he’s against online ticket sales because it would be an unnecessary luxury.
“It’s a convenience no one should have from their living room,” he said.
Joanne Mendes, executive director of the New England Convenience Store Association, said the organization is very concerned about the legislation.
“We believe it would negatively impact thousands of local businesses,” she said.
She wondered how the state will verify a customer’s age online. No one under the age of 18 can purchase lottery tickets in the United States.
Michael Gray, 60, said he buys between 10 and 20 scratch tickets from Cal’s a week. He’s not interested in purchasing tickets online, and prefers to give his business to a local merchant.
Leonard Murphy, 68, said he spends up to $100 a day on scratch tickets at Friendly Market. The Lynn resident said online lottery sales wouldn’t affect him because he doesn’t own a computer.
Still, the Lottery’s Sweeney said a move to Internet sales are critical because the state’s lottery profits are flat.
“I think the marketplace is getting more difficult,” he said in a statement. “I think consumer tastes are changing and I think how people engage commerce is clearly changing, it’s going online, it’s mobile, it’s cashless.”
Dillon Durst can be reached at ddurst@itemlive.com.
