From the blog of the Oxford University Press, October 11:
This past summer, millions of Americans were transfixed by the prospect of becoming billionaires. After weeks with no winner, the jackpot for the multi-state lottery game Mega Millions rose to $1.3 billion before being won by an as-yet-unnamed gambler who purchased the winning ticket at a Speedway gas station in Des Plaines, Illinois. Or, more specifically, at the convenience store portion of the gas station, where customers can purchase gas, food, drinks, cigarettes, and, of course, lottery tickets.
It is unsurprising that the winning ticket was purchased at a gas station convenience store. As recently as 2020, nearly 70% of total lottery sales nationwide were made at convenience stores (including convenience stores attached to gas stations). What may be surprising is just how intertwined the history of state lotteries is with the history of the American convenience store. The two emerged at roughly the same time, convenience stores helped lotteries become a $90 billion-a-year industry, and lotteries helped convenience stores secure their place at the heart of modern American commerce.
The first wave of state lotteries spread over the Northeast and Rust Belt in the 1960s and 1970s, where states initially strove for respectability. Tickets were sold in a variety of retail businesses and nonprofit organizations, from barbershops to union halls. This strategy was born of necessity: states wanted to meet potential players where they already gathered and to legitimize a consumer product that had long been underground and associated with organized crime.
The rise of the convenience store changed the game for state lottery commissions. In 1959, there were just 900 convenience stores across the entire United States. By 1977 there were 27,000 and in 1990 there were 71,000. A number of factors contributed to the quick rise of quick shopping. Convenience stores opened earlier and closed later than grocery stores. As more women entered the workforce, households compensated by making fewer grocery trips and picking up goods at a corner market, even if the prices were somewhat higher....
....MUCH MORE
