LOTTERY Northeast Pa. buys most tickets per capita

The average state resident spends $194 a year on lottery tickets.
SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) -- Residents of Lackawanna and Luzerne counties in northeastern Pennsylvania buy more lottery tickets per capita than anyone else in the state, according to the Department of Revenue.
Experts and lottery officials cite the popularity of instant games in the region, the outsized number of retailers, and the fact that both counties are struggling economically as reasons for the lottery's success.
Way to relax
Carol Bartholme just plays to pass the time. Bartholme, who works three days a week at the Scranton Co-op Farmers Market, buys scratch-off lottery tickets every other day and plays when business is slow.
"This helps me relax," she said. "I love it. I buy a lottery ticket every other day, but if I win, I buy a few more."
Lackawanna County residents spent more than $41 million on lottery tickets between January and Aug. 18. If the pace continues, the county's 210,458 residents will spend an average of $312 each. Luzerne County residents will spend an average of $304, second among the state's 67 counties.
The statewide average is $194.
Number of retailers
Department of Revenue spokesman Steve Kniley said more retailers are becoming licensed lottery ticket sellers every week. The lottery has one retailer per 990 residents in Lackawanna County -- but only one retailer per 1,500 residents statewide.
Jerry Frank, who owns a newsstand in downtown Scranton, sells more than 1,000 tickets per day. One day, when the jackpot was large, a customer bought 300.
"We sell a fair amount of tickets," he said. "A good 50 to 60 percent of our business is the lottery."
Jeff Rudski, an assistant professor of psychology at Muhlenberg College in Allentown who has studies gambling, said poor people gamble more than more affluent people.
"The more deprived you are, the more risks you're willing to take," he said.
Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling in Washington, D.C., said that unlike New Jersey and other states, Pennsylvania does not have a system to deal with problem gamblers.
"The state has legalized the lottery, but they haven't stepped up to the plate to provide help," Whyte said.