COLUMBIA – Walk into Delia’s Branch Grocery and chances are you’re taking your chances.

“Habit, I guess,” said lobsterman Alfred Cirone, pausing briefly upon leaving Delia’s last Tuesday with a brown paper bag filled with one of the store’s famous Italian sandwiches, one soda and, more to the point, one $2 Maine State Lottery scratch-off ticket.

The 35-year-old man from neighboring Addison isn’t the only one in Washington County throwing down a buck or two for a chance – however remote – at thousands or even millions of dollars in the state-run gambling operation.

People in the county, the poorest in Maine, spent the most per capita, nearly $160 for every man, woman and child, on the lottery last year, according to a Bangor Daily News analysis of Maine State Lottery sales figures.

Conversely, residents of Maine’s wealthiest counties, Cumberland and York, spent the least, $116 and $105, respectively, well below the state average of $123 per person.

But nowhere did they wager more per person than in Columbia, population 475, where more than $805 for every man, woman and child was spent on lottery tickets in 2002.

And nowhere in Columbia did they sell more lottery tickets than Delia’s, the town’s oldest business at 56 years, and a convenient stop on Route 1 about halfway between Milbridge and Machias.

“I suppose it’s the whole ‘get rich quick’ thing,” said an unsurprised Kathy Greene, owner of the store. An estimated 75 percent of customers walk out with lottery tickets, which cost from $1 to $10 depending on the game.

Although one of her customers recently won $1,000 on the lottery’s new $10 ticket, Cash Spectacular, Greene couldn’t help but shake her head.

“To me, it’s like taking $10, lighting it on fire and throwing it in the garbage,” she said, surprised by the popularity of the relatively pricey game. She has sold more than $9,500 worth of Cash Spectacular tickets since its introduction in mid-April. That’s 18 tickets a day every day for nearly two months.

“I guess I’m glad not everyone thinks like me,” she said.

Based solely on state lottery revenues, not everyone does.

Instant revenue

Since its creation in 1974, the Maine State Lottery, in all its incarnations, has pumped $600 million into the state’s General Fund.

The lottery runs two types of games, the instant scratch-off tickets and the so-called online games including Tri-State Megabucks, Pick 3, Pick 4 and Cash Lotto.

As is the case in most locations, the instant tickets are more popular at Delia’s, accounting for 80 percent of the store’s $229,000 in lottery sales last year. Statewide, instant sales accounted for about 75 percent of the $157 million spent in 2002.

Three hours south of Delia’s, on Route 1 in Edgecomb, instant tickets are the only game in town.

Nevertheless, not many of the Lincoln County town’s 1,090 people are playing, according to the NEWS analysis, which placed Edgecomb at the bottom of the list in lottery spending last year at only $3.17 per person.

In keeping with the study’s findings that the state’s top lottery spenders had the lowest incomes, Edgecomb’s per-capita income is nearly $24,000, 22 percent higher than the state average and 64 percent higher than in Columbia.

A comparison of the top and bottom 20 spending communities revealed that the incomes of those that spent the least was 28 percent higher than in those towns that spent the most on the lottery.

At Mary’s Pop-In, the only store in Edgecomb to sell lottery tickets, owner Mary Grant searched her memory for the last big winner. After a mention of a “little fellow down the road” who had been lucky of late, Grant gave up.

“I wish I could tell you I sell a million of them but I don’t,” said Grant, 79, from behind the counter at the quaint country market in the north end of town, an array of shingled waterfront homes and roadside bed and breakfasts. “It’s real spelly.”

While Grant watched over her store on a quiet June morning, a few miles away on the banks of the Sheepscot River, Willis and Mary Clifford observed the goings-on at the Eddy Marina, which they have run for 15 years.

“And I’ll bet we haven’t bought 15 lottery tickets in that time,” Mary Clifford, 62, chimed in as a pair of lobstermen from nearby Richmond readied their gear for the next day. “It’s just never been a priority for me.”

‘More than coincidence’

Statistically speaking, the numbers generated in the NEWS study suggested “moderate” relationships among education, income and lottery spending, according to Associate professor William Halteman, a faculty member in the University of Maine mathematics department.

“It’s more than coincidence,” Halteman said of the analysis, which also found that the state’s least educated spent more on the lottery than those with at least a bachelor’s degree.

But gaming experts and state lottery officials warn that the stereotype of gamblers being poor and less educated is not as accurate as one might think.

National studies have found that, by and large, income has little to do with the propensity to gamble, with all income classes equally inclined to try their luck whether it be at a casino, a bingo hall or a state lottery.

However, the same studies also find that instant games, such as the Maine State Lottery’s scratch tickets, appealed far more to lower-income gamblers, who spent a larger percentage of their incomes on those games than did their wealthier neighbors.

“It’s a less glamorous way to gamble and [the tickets] are easy to come by,” said Wellesley College economist Melissa Schettini Kearney, whose 2003 study found that low-income households, upon the introduction of a lottery in their state, spent 3 percent less on household items including food and clothing.

The results of a 1997 state survey by the Maine State Lottery defied the stereotype, concluding that middle-income people play more than either low- or high-income households. The same survey found that people play for fun, not because they expect to get rich quick.

“That’s what we found, and that’s what we have to go on,” said Maine State Lottery director Pam Coutts. She said the agency had no imminent plans to conduct another survey.

Coutts would not comment on the NEWS analysis, to which there were some notable exceptions.

For instance, in the tourist town of Ogunquit, where the per-capita income is 75 percent higher than the state average, the per-capita spending on the lottery was $325, more than 11/2 times the state average.

On the other end of the spectrum, residents of the Washington County town of Cutler, among the state’s poorer communities, spent only $6.19 each on the lottery.

Some surmise that Washington County’s distinction as Maine’s top lottery spender has something to do with its proximity to Canada, where anecdotal evidence suggests people cross the border to play.

Back in Columbia, outside Delia’s, Alfred Cirone didn’t appear to be in a hurry to scratch his newly acquired “Super Blackjack” ticket despite its big yellow letters promising a chance to win up to $25,000.

Instead, the veteran lobsterman hopped in his car to head home and finish painting his boat, Daddy’s Babies, in anticipation of summer fishing season beginning July 1.

“Just hopin’, I guess,” he said before driving away. “Maybe someday.”