BRYANT -- A convenience store near the Interstate 30 overpass in Bryant has become the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery's top ticket seller, dislodging an Arkansas County retailer from the top spot and outselling more than 1,900 other lottery retailers.
The store leading the list -- Y&E Superstop -- is near the Reynolds Road exit, west of Ashley's Furniture and southwest of the Cracker Barrel and Wal-Mart store.
In fiscal 2015, Y&E reported total lottery ticket sales of $1.89 million. That's roughly $5,178 per day between July 1, 2014, and June 30.
Eddie Park of Benton, who has owned Y&E since February 2008, doesn't advertise his store's new status.
"We are doing a great job without a banner," the 61-year-old soft-spoken businessman said in an interview last week at his store. "We advertise word of mouth."
State Rep. Andy Davis, R-Little Rock, said he didn't know that the store in his legislative district is the highest-ticket-selling lottery retailer.
"It's a high-traffic area. I imagine a lot of people stop for gas and a snack on their way home," said Davis, who is a member of the Legislature's lottery oversight committee.
Y&E unseated G&B Liquor of Stuttgart, which had sold the most tickets each year since the lottery's start on Sept. 28, 2009. In fiscal 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, Y&E finished second on the list.
G&B reported lottery sales of $2.25 million in fiscal 2014, outpacing Y&E's $1.72 million that year.
But the Stuttgart store, which changed hands during the year, saw its sales drop to $1.76 million in 2015.
The lottery has helped fund more than 30,000 Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarships during each of the past five fiscal years.
But the Legislature has cut the size of scholarships for some future students three times, partly because the lottery's net proceeds have fallen short of projections.
Its ticket sales and net proceeds for scholarships peaked in fiscal 2012 and have dipped in each of the three fiscal years since.
But ticket sales at Y&E have been rising while those at other locations have fallen.
Park recalled that the store ranked 152nd in the state in lottery ticket sales during one quarter in 2009.
Since then, Y&E's ticket sales have steadily increased.
Its ticket sales were $1.36 million in fiscal 2011 and have risen every year since, according to lottery records.
Terry Washington of Bryant said he buys $80 to $100 in lottery tickets each week, mostly at the Bryant retailer.
He said he likes that the store sells tickets for a wide variety of lottery games.
Washington said he's had some luck with tickets he bought there. He won $500 twice in one week at the store about a month and a half ago.
Asked why Bryant has the top-selling lottery ticket retailer, Mayor Jill Dabbs speculated that it might be the store's location.
Dabbs said she's never bought a ticket, although her husband occasionally buys one if the jackpot's large enough.
"It's off my radar," she said.
Saline County's retailers -- which sold $13.5 million in lottery tickets in fiscal 2015 -- ranked sixth among counties in ticket sales, lagging behind Pulaski County's $75.9 million, Jefferson County's $18.3 million, Washington County's $18.1 million, Craighead County's $14.5 million and Faulkner County's $13.9 million The lottery's revenue totaled $409 million in fiscal 2015.
Park said his store has benefited from its location near the Interstate. It got a boost when a nearby gas station that had sold lottery tickets went out of business. Many of those customers switched to Y&E, Park said. (Y&E sells gas, but the fuel side of the business and the property itself are owned by Coulson Oil Co., he said).
Selling a winning $500,000 lottery ticket four years ago also helped boost his store's ticket sales, he said.
Park said he's tried to offer as many varieties of lottery-game tickets as possible at his store, and "I try not to run out."
He said his store's employees and customers are treated "as family," and selling tickets "helps bring more people in."
"More customers bring in a little bit more income, and it helps business," he said.
Lottery retailers are paid 5 percent commissions on all lottery sales and 1 percent commissions on winning tickets that they cash, lottery Director Bishop Woosley said. In addition, retailers get 1 percent commissions for winning tickets with $10,000 prizes and above that they sell, Woosley said.
Park said those who buy lottery tickets at his store are split "50/50." Half are local people, and half are people passing through. He said his customers span all income levels and races.
Woosley said Y&E Superstop has "a great location" near I-30, and the local community in Saline County continues to grow.
In addition, the managers at Y&E are adept at serving their customers and seem to have established a strong base of support in that community, Woosley said in a written statement
When Y&E sold the scratch-off ticket that won the $500,000 prize in February 2011, it did a great job highlighting that win for its customers, he said.
"Y&E management also follows best practices for the sale of lottery tickets, including 'asking for the sale' and ensuring that lottery products are properly stocked and visible," Woosley said.
Asking for the sale means asking, "Would you like to buy a lottery ticket?" or something similar, said Jake Bleed, a spokesman for the state Department of Finance and Administration, the agency under which the lottery has operated since February.
Although Y&E leads this year's list, nobody can top G&B's total ticket sales since September 2009.
G&B's sales in that time have totaled $11.5 million, compared with Y&E's $9.2 million through Thursday, said Bleed.
G&B Liquor is on a stretch of U.S. 165 named Park Avenue, one of Stuttgart's thoroughfares, and is heavily traveled by farmers and rice mill employees.
G&B Liquor's co-owner Ben Hooks of Slovak said he and his brother Luke Hooks have the same emphasis on lottery ticket sales that the store's previous owner, Paul Le, had.
"We have kept everything the same," he said. "It is still going strong."
Ben Hooks said there was almost "zero downtime" -- only a few hours -- when the store transferred ownership in late April.
The store's fiscal 2015 ticket sales had started dipping under the previous ownership, and sales were soft for a short time after the business sold, he said.
"With any change in management, there is always a slight slump" in sales, he said. "I hope to be No. 1 next year."
Metro on 09/20/2015