Lottery Commission Exploring Lottery Kiosks At Gas Pumps
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - California and Minnesota already have it in place. A Texas inventor started talking about the idea ten years ago.
Now, the Lottery Commission in Pennsylvania is looking at selling tickets in a very popular place.
For people on the go, it could be your next time-saver.
"I think that's pretty cool. It's pretty convenient. Saves a lot of time," Stephen Green said.
Lottery officials told a Senate committee in Harrisburg kiosks would be available for customers to buy tickets at the gas pump.
"Much easier than walking inside there. I don't know about instant lottery, but doing the numbers, it could definitely help out. You know, you are just pumping gas and click it on there and buy your numbers while you pump gas. Think it would work," Joshua Hoffman said.
Yet, many of the people who own and operate gas stations and convenience stores don't like the idea at all.
"You can already pre-pay at the pump so therefore, the customers don't come into the store. So, if they were able to play the lottery out at the pump, they definitely wouldn't come into the store, so that is going to drop business down," Alexandrea Jarmulowski said.
Some customers think the convenience could quickly turn to chaos as people try to figure out how to use the machines.
"It's going to be an inconvenience for a lot of people and probably is going to cause a little bit of ruckus when people are trying to pump gas and people are in line and just keep their car there for the lottery. I think it will be a big problem," Ronald Pettinato said.
The Lottery Commission said it is also looking into putting kiosks at grocery store check-out lines and state stores in an effort to sell more tickets.
"I think that playing the lottery is already easy enough so I don't think it is necessary to put it at the pump," Ali Miller said.
Join The Conversation On The KDKA Facebook Page
Stay Up To Date, Follow KDKA On Twitter
