Projo Offbeat Blog

If you shop for doughnuts, aspirin or plywood in Massachusetss, get ready to spend more time waiting in line. The state lottery is pushing to sell lottery tickets at places like CVS, Dunkin' Donuts and Home Depot.

A story in the Boston Herald says the state needs the money to close a $1 billion budget deficit. Sound familiar, Rhode Island?

The story says the "primary effort would be to sell scratch tickets in vending machines, but officials said they would be open to sales of Megabucks, Mass Millions and other games."

I just know that before long I'll get stuck behind some would-be millionaire at CVS who's trying to decide whether One-Eyed Jack, Pinball Wizard or Frosty the Doughman holds his fortune? Hopefully CVS will understand when I dip into the painkillers before paying for them.

It's irritating enough to wait behind legions of lottery players during a "quick trip" to the convenience store for milk or bread. After all, there's no such thing as a quick trip when so-called convenience stores offer quick picks. The milk could go sour by the time you get to the front of the line.

And you can prepare for some ugly scenes if we have to wait behind two or three gamblers at Dunkin' Donuts before we've had our first cup of coffee. It's a dangerous recipe to mix gambling addicts with coffee addicts.

And hasn't the home-building industry slowed enough without clogging the checkout lines at Home Depot with lottery players?

At least the story makes no mention of selling lottery tickets in clothing and electronics stores. If that were the case, you might have to start shopping now for next Christmas.

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