A Mercedes Benz van once destined to be transformed into a traveling ticket outlet for the Washington State Lottery has been sold.
And though the state Lottery lost money in the resale of its desired “Lottomobile,” state taxpayers in a twist made a few thousand bucks from the deal.
The white 2011 Sprinter was bought Oct. 25 off the lot of Mercedes Benz of Lynnwood, said Lottery spokesman Arlen Harris.
With the sale done, it’s time to calculate if the lottery agency met the demand of Gov. Chris Gregoire to get rid of the vehicle acquired in June and recoup all costs.
The Lottery Commission bought the vehicle for $44,905. Add in taxes and fees and the total cost reached around $49,000. Revenues from lottery ticket sales, not tax dollars, were used for the purchase.
The van, with 400 miles on the odometer, sold in October for $42,000, with $41,500 returned to the coffers of the Lottery and $500 going to employees of the dealership who handled the consignment order.
Add everything up and the state Lottery loses $3,405 in the process.
But the state general fund is up $5,649 thanks to the collection of sales tax on each transaction.
According to the state Department of Revenue, when you do the math it looks the state collected roughly $2,919 in June and another $2,730 in October.
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