I have been in retail, selling lottery, for around 10 years until now. The business I was at didn’t seem to be taking corona virus seriously, neither was the customers.

During all the warnings and precautions being put into effect I still had droves of customers still coming out just for lottery tickets/scratch offs. When the stay at home order was put in effect and residents were to go out just for essentials the lottery players haven’t stopped.

there was notes on lotto tickets being printed informing players of the 2020 census, but nothing on the corona virus. Although Michigan has closed claim offices to help with the spread , making it to where players can only cash winnings $600 and less at retailers, the traffic hasn’t decreased for lotto.

as a gas station employee I couldn’t justify to myself coming to work everyday amid a crisis, putting myself and family at risk just so people could get lottery tickets. I was experiencing frequent anxiety attacks and became very frustrated that this issue was not addressed by our government. I had to leave my position, my store may have been deemed essential but hardly anything I was selling was.

ive talked with other employees of gas stations in the area as well. And they also STILL have people all day coming in for just lotto.

if we really want to help stop the spread of this virus and cut down on non essential travel I petition that sales of scratch offs and the state lottery drawings be halted till we reach a safer environment in our state. This will cut down on a large chunk of nonessential travel and reduce the number of people cashiers and clerks across the state have to interact with, creating a safer atmosphere in these dire times.

thank you for your consideration, I hope you support this cause and help our essential employees working the shops during this crisis. Help them help you.

stay home,stay safe.

-Kyle LaBelle