EZ Mart Becomes S.D. Lottery's First Premier Store

RAPID CITY, S.D. -- The EZ Mart store on Highway 44 in Rapid City recently became the South Dakota Lottery's first "Premier Store," a lottery retailer that has their business decorated in a lottery theme.

EZ Mart now has lottery logos and colors all over it, according to a report by KOTA-TV.

"It means a lot more traffic inside our store. We have been partnered up with the lottery, selling their tickets for 12 years, no 16 years now. Any of the promotions they've ran have just been super for us," Darrell Lich, co-owner of EZ-Mart, told the news outlet. 

Lottery officials say this has worked well in other states, and store owners are excited about it. "Other states have done it with moderate to great success. So we are hoping to be in there, too," said Joe Willingham of the South Dakota Lottery.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony at EZ Mart was held earlier in May. 

The location of another Premier Store hasn't been decided yet. Lottery officials say they will see how this one works first before adding another one, but the next one will probably open in the eastern part of the state sometime in 2015, according to the report.