California Lottery Begins Offering Tickets At Gas Pumps
CAMPBELL (KPIX 5) – Play at the Pump, the California Lottery's latest attempt to expand the lotto market, is both convenient and controversial.
Convenient because it allows credit card users to both fill up and buy up to $20 worth of Quick Picks without ever having to go inside.
At the same time, it's controversial because the offerings are a sharp change from the lottery's long standing cash-only rules aimed at cutting down on overspending by poor people and chronic gamblers.
Lottery tickets are sold at about 21,000 locations across the state, and brought in $5.5 billion last year, including $1.3 billion for the schools.
"It's being used a lot," said Allen Enriquez, a clerk at a station in Campbell. "A lot of people don't know how to use it yet - but it looks like it is going to catch up."
At the pump, drivers insert their credit card and then their license to prove they are of legal gambling age. After making their picks and filling up, the lottery numbers show up on the receipt.
Play at the Pump is currently available at 87 gas stations in the state.