Game Play: ‘Scratch and Win Shifters: Lovebites Lottery’ – Get three of the same shifter symbols in a horizontal or vertical row; win that shifter. Get three heart symbols, win your choice of lion, wolf, tiger, or bear shifter. Get a 2X symbol, win double the prize shown for that symbol. All non-winning tickets may be entered in the second chance drawing to be held monthly.

To Redeem: Contact Karina Ocean at the Sunshine State Lottery. Prizes are subject to availability at time of ticket purchase. The Sunshine State Lottery reserves the right to offer a substitute prize if the winning prize is not available. No substitution for a prize will be made at the request of a winner. Prizes are not transferable and may not be shared. By accepting the prize you agree that your name and picture may be used without any further compensation to you.

Prizes: Shifters offered in the ‘Scratch and Win Shifters: Lovebites Lottery’ have completed a thorough background check and a personality assessment. They are participating in hopes of finding their true mate.

Game Odds and Rules: Visit the Sunshine State Lottery online or your lottery retailer for complete game odds.  All ticket winners must be females and at least eighteen years old.

Remember – you have to play to win, but play responsibly!

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“Whoohoo!” I let out a little squeal as I read the large display ad posted on the front of the grocery store window. Crispers potato chips were on BOGO—buy one and get one free, and I was pretty sure I had a coupon. I needed to buy chips for the Christmas party my roommates Kristi, Cat, and Meg insisted on having. Ugh. I could hardly believe it was Christmas time again—certainly not my favorite time of the year; too much stress and too many gifts to buy. Oh well, at least there were likely to be lots of bargains and coupons as vendors tried to suck up consumer’s Christmas dollars.

I grabbed a shopping cart. After placing my big binder filled with carefully organized coupons in the front part of the cart, I gave it an affectionate tap. Sure, it was a lot of work clipping and organizing coupons, but it was worth it. Those little slips of paper saved us a ton of money on our food bill every week. I was sure I would save a lot on what I was going to buy for the party. I always tried to save every dollar I could. I was working in the ladies wear section at Bon Smart department store and things weren’t going so great. Aside from the clothes people tried on and discarded that I had to hang up, which could be a pain, I enjoyed my job. I liked interacting with the customers and helping them find that special outfit they were searching for. But my boss, Becky Riffen, was always finding fault with everything I did. I needed to get out of that place for my own sanity. It wasn’t that big of a deal that she insisted I call her Ms. Riffen, but she was rude to me in front of the customers and gave me the worst hours possible. It was too bad I had to report to her and not Margie Kay, the store manager. I’d heard that Margie was strict, but fair and professional—she didn’t nitpick.

As I rolled the cart into the store, the familiar strains of a holiday tune about a kid who saw his momma kissing Santa Claus were streaming from the loudspeakers. “Bah humbug,” I muttered. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Why did they have to play those same silly songs over and over? As I pushed the cart forward, I leaned onto the handle and started flipping through the binder to find the Crisper’s coupon.

“Watch out!” a shrill woman’s voice called out.

Her words were too late. I heard a loud thud and the sound of tinkling glass as my cart slammed into something. Startled, I quickly looked up from my binder. “Oh my God!”  Splayed out on the floor in front of my shopping cart was a Christmas tree, splattered with bits of broken glass and tinsel. It looked like it had hit the bakery table on the way down as small pieces of glass were scattered on it also. “Shit!” I’d been so focused on finding the Crispers coupon in my binder I’d run right into it. “Great—just great,” I murmured.

Who the hell would put a Christmas tree with glass ornaments in a grocery store aisle? As I stared stupidly at the mess on the floor a man in a red shirt came running over.

“What just happened here?” His eyes widened as he looked at me. “I know you…you’re that lady…” His voice trailed off as his eyes narrowed with recognition, “…the coupon lady.”

I let out a deep breath as I stared blankly at his nametag, not meeting his eyes. I didn’t have to read it—I knew his name. Merv Paine was the manager of Foodies Market and we’d had words more than a time or two over coupon rules and regulations. “I’m so sorry,” I blubbered. “I didn’t see the tree and I accidently knocked it down…”

He shook his head. “You sure did. It looks like you did quite a lot of damage, too.”

“I’m really, truly sorry.”

“Well…” he scratched his head. “I guess you’ll have to pay for those ornaments and these bakery items.” He waved his hand at the baked goods on the display table. “The tree can probably be saved.”

I let out a gasp. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

He shrugged. “You break it, you buy it.”

“The baked goods are in boxes!” I brushed a few pieces of red ornament flakes off the top of a box containing coffee cake. “See…good as new…”

Merv shook his head. “We can’t sell that! What if glass got in one of the boxes?”

Damn. I glanced down at the bakery table again. There were a lot of pastries on the table: fudge, bear claws, donuts, cakes…the fudge alone was five dollars and ninety-nine cents a box. I winced as I did a mental calculation. I had to be looking at several hundred dollars of bakery goods.

“Headquarters won’t let us sell something if it’s contaminated.”

I grimaced as I looked at the broken ornaments on the floor. “…and why would you have glass ornaments on a tree in a grocery store anyway? A little kid could get hurt.”

“Look, miss, I don’t have time to argue with you. I don’t know what corporate is going to want to do. Why don’t you head on over to customer service and have them call headquarters. Meanwhile,” he flashed me a sour expression, “I need to get this cleaned up before somebody gets hurt.”

“Great, just great,” I muttered. As I pushed my cart over to the service desk, the song about the kid’s momma kissing Santa Claus started playing on the loudspeaker again. Geez, my head felt like it was going to explode. The holiday season was off to a sucky start!