California's gas stations start selling lottery tickets at the pump
Gas pumps in California will now supply something else other than fuel: lottery tickets. Play at the Pump allows drivers to buy up to $20 of Quick Pick tickets while paying for their fuel.
The new initiative by the California Lottery has raised complaints from groups worried it may increase gambling addiction among Californians, and they criticize the state government for sponsoring it, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
Through the Play at the Pump program drivers will be able to buy up to $20 of lottery tickets at gas pumps with their credit cards while paying for fuel.
It appears to be a reversal of policy after the State of California in 1985 implemented a cash-only payment method for lottery tickets in an effort to curb gambling excesses.
The program will roll out slowly with only 87 gas stations offering Play at the Pump, most of them in Sacramento and Los Angeles. Retail partners of the program are Gilbarco, Verifone and Murphy USA.
“We’re looking to expand slowly. Once we get to 100 stations, we’ll take a look and decide what to do next,” Alex Traverso, a spokesman for the California Lottery, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Anti-gambling associations say the poor are likely to be hit the hardest by the new California State lottery program, with national studies revealing people with low incomes are more prone to spend money on gambling than other groups.