A Lottery Player Born
Every Minute

Other than the occasional small potatoes wager on a sporting event or the even rarer night of playing poker, my gambling experience is limited to a single trip to Atlantic City when I was in my twenties. My work buddy Russell and I were visiting friends in the Washington, D.C., area when we decided to take a side trip to New Jersey for a night at the old blackjack table.

Of course, we had spent the evening before watching and re-watching a video titled something like “The Sure Fire Method of Winning at Blackjack,” featuring a sleazy looking mustachioed narrator who had supposedly been “banned for life from no less than a dozen Las Vegas casinos” because of his amazing blackjack prowess.

Armed with this man’s insider knowledge, we proceeded to the Sands Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City to clean out the house.

And we did…at least for a night. After an up-and-down evening of decent hands and smart “doubling down” on my bets, I ended the night with a profit of about $180. Russell did even better, and due to his aggressive betting, won something like 800 bucks.

We drove back down to Washington giddy with the knowledge that we had mastered this simple card game and were invincible blackjack superstars! No more restaurant jobs! No more cheap beer! The gravy train had pulled into the station and we were packed and ready to board.

The next morning I had a sense that we had been blessed with a healthy dose of beginner’s luck and started figuring out ways to make my little windfall last until my next paycheck. No such luck for Russell. He was convinced that he had stumbled upon the goose that laid golden eggs right on the boardwalk of Atlantic City…and there was no way he was going to let that goose go.

After a quick breakfast, Russell drove back to the Sands to begin his fortune in earnest. His $800 in tow, he was determined to show the blackjack dealers of the nation how a young skinny kid from North Carolina could parlay a little gambling know-how into a small fortune.

Sometime before dinner, Russell called us collect and asked if we would wire him some gas money so he could make it back down to Washington. Apparently, day two of his blackjack scheme had gone the casino’s way.

I thought about Russell last Thursday morning when the state of North Carolina began its Education Lottery at convenience stores with four different scratch games. I’m sure the state was counting on people like him to be the first in line to lay down their money for a chance at instant riches.

For the state anyway, those dreams of instant riches came true. In the first ten hours of the lottery last Thursday, the NCEL had sold $6.5 million in tickets. They had also paid out $1.3 million in prizes.

Now, I don’t know how up-to-date your math skills are, but that translates into a 20% payout by the state on the money that they brought in. That’s really pretty meager compared to the federally enforced 90% payouts (approximate) with which casinos must comply. And if you’re playing poker with friends, chances are that there is a 100% payout on the pot every single hand.

So as gambling goes, the lottery is a game for suckers. Fortunately for the NCEL, it’s the only game in town and does not have to compete with horse racing, casinos or other forms of “real” gambling.

By the end of the day on Thursday, North Carolinians and visitors from other states had purchased over $8 million in scratch tickets. Representatives from the NCEL were pleased as punch at the public’s gullibility and were unashamed to say so.

“We have just really, really outdone ourselves,” said Carla Archie , a deputy executive director of the lottery.

“We are excited about what this means for education in North Carolina,” said Tom Shaheen, executive director. “Overall we are very pleased with the way everything came together on launch day.”

Folks at the NCEL were also quick to point to some of the first day’s big winners as a way of showing others the way to the trough (or slaughterhouse, depending on your point of view). They promoted the fact that one Richard Garland of Newton was the first person to win in the $100,000 Carolina Cash instant scratch-off game. The NCEL also wanted the media to pass on the fact that Mr. Garland purchased his winning ticket at the BJY Fast Stop in Conover. I guess it is their way of telling the public that dreams really do come true…even at second rate convenience stores with dirty bathrooms.

After taxes, Garland’s winning ticket is worth $68,000. When asked what he would do with his newfound riches, Garland said, “I think I’m going to buy me a house.”

I’m just glad it wasn’t my old friend Russell who won. I’m afraid he would have taken his winnings and purchased $68,000 worth of Carolina Cash scratch tickets.