Convenience Store Sales of the Iowa Lottery Tickets Under the Microscope of Continuing Investigation

The Iowa Lottery began in February doing spot checks to see if store personnel properly handled winning tickets. Of course this is naïve at best because there are other ways to beat the customer when playing the lottery.  The Lottery and DCI checks aren’t enough. It’s a good start but hardly enough to cover all the ways store clerks are cheating customers.

The latest checks follow earlier tests in February, April and May.

Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich said that the lottery was pleased to work with the DCI in its latest checks.

“We are happy with the ongoing effort to prevent lottery fraud in Iowa,” Rich said. “But the overall goal is to tell customers that signing their tickets prevents most opportunity for being scammed.”

What the lottery people don’t know is the store employees have simply changed tactics to another con game. I shop for gasoline at Kum & Go, an Iowa or Midwest convenience store chain. The gas receipt has a 12 digit number printed across the bottom of it. If the customer enters that number in the online survey they are entered into a contest where they can win the Summer of 59 Sweepstakes.  Many customers aren’t aware of sweepstakes or the numbers on the bottom of the receipt. I am and what the heck I regularly enter those numbers online. I haven’t won anything but I still play.

Well at the store located at E.P. True Parkway and South 50^th Street I purchased gas and the clerk kept my receipt then stacked it on a pile of other receipts.

So here is my question, are the clerks of the Kum & Go stores playing the sweepstakes using customer 12 digit numbers and if so is that part of the game?

Do people not feel shame anymore? Have participation trophy’s created expectations in young adults that simply showing up should be enough for a pay check or a winning sweepstake or lottery ticket?

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If the owner of Kum & Go knew what these clerks were doing he’d be angry and then ashamed of the way his store name is being slandered by these small acts of deceit that cheat the customer of their chance at winning the Summer of 59 Sweepstakes.

Look at 3:48 minutes into this video; notice the act of honesty. When you’re honest there is no reason to feel shame.  Living honestly is the reward; the same goes for an honest days work.  Only losers want a participation trophy, winners want to win one.