Nadir Makhani says when he opened his store in February he was selling about $25 worth of numbered lottery tickets. Now, he says he sells about $300 a day. Makhani makes a nickle for every ticket...and now he says the lottery commission is taking his nickles away. The lottery is running a promotion exclusive to Valero-owned stores. Buy 5 Texas Lotto tickets and receive 1 Mega-millions ticket...free! The Texas Lottery Commission says Valero came to them with the promotion for in-store advertising, and after their ad vendor looked at the proposal, the commission agreed. The commission says they project they will make almost $100,000 profit. The thing is, in the first week of the promotion, they gave away 50 thousand tickets. Given those numbers, that means Valero is spending an additional $200 thousand dollars a month on advertising the lottery. Every two weeks lotto representatives check each of their assigned stores to make sure they are advertising properly and running the lottery according to the commission's guidelines. Mahani says they don't need to check his store for advertising...they can see it on the huge electronic billboard that blares "Play Texas Lotto" every few minutes. And he says he has more counter ads and electronic signage than any Valero. He's even been recognized by the Lottery Commission for his signage. Despite the loud protests by Makhani the Lottery Commission says the promotion will continue, and they urge every individual or a group of individuals to bring promotions ideas to the commission. If they benefit the agency and more importantly the state and it's education system, the lottery is open to the same process they give Valero or H-E-B.
