Sun-Sentinel – Want to buy some lottery tickets but can’t make it to your local 7-11, supermarket or gas station?
State Sen. Gwen Margolis, D-Miami, has an alternative: a bill that would let customers buy online. But that may not go over so well with the local retailers who currently make big bucks selling paper Lottery tickets.
John Fleming, a spokesman for the Florida Retail Federation, which lobbies the Legislature on behalf of those stores, said that the group is aware of the legislation and said that it was likely the brick and mortar retailers would have some objections.
The lottery currently does not sell tickets online or by fax or mail. Instead, it relies on 13,000 retailers, who typically keep about 5 percent of the revenue from tickets they sell.
“Retailers have invested a lot in the lottery program, and we sell a lot of tickets,” Fleming said.
In the 2011-2012 fiscal year, the lottery did $4.4 billion in annual sales and $1.3 billion of that went to education funding for the state. The bulk of the money — about 61 percent — goes to prizes.
Florida Lottery officials said they were aware of the legislation but had not spoken to Margolis about her plans. A similar bill was filed last year, but it never got a hearing in the Senate Gaming Committee.
