Friday, February 1, 1985
Daily Nebraskan
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By Hiindy Denver
laf Eepsrtsr
Two
Lincoln gt3 stations have
d the checkless socistv that
the financial industry spoke of during
the 19703.
For the past year, the Gateway and
Parkway Phillips 65 23 stations have
experimented with automated fuel
delivery systems. These systems link a
machine similar to an niterr.ated teller
machine, to a set cf gas pumps. Custo
mers can buy gas by using their auto
matic teller cards, called debit cards
The purchase amount is electronically
credited to the stificn's account and
deducted from the customer's account
Whitehead Oil Company owns the
stations that are experimenting with
the machines. According to Charles
Perdsw, a Whitehead salesman, the
m&crunes have been
the company plans to buy mere.
People use the machines most
-between 4:30 p.m. and midnight, Per
dew sard. In the last five weeks, the
machine at the Parkway station, 48th
and Normal streets, has averted 186
customers each week, he said.
The two Phillips 68 machines, called
point-cf sale electronic funds transfer
terminals, are a part cf a 400-terminal
network in Nebraska.
But according to John Miller, execu
tive vice president of Nebraska Elec
tronic Funds Transfer Service, only
three cf the 400 Nebraska terminals are
P03 machines. These are the Lincoln
gas stations' POS machines and a
third, similar unit in Waverly, Miller
In contrast, more than 414,003 debit
cards are in use in Nebraska, Miller
said. About 25 percent cf people who
have bank accounts in the state have
debit cards. Nebraska's ccrccntre is
Sam Somerholder, senior vice presi
dent at First National Lincoln, said
most banks encourage account-holders
to use debit cards as much as possible.
Electronic transactions reduce banks'
paperwork and make operations mere
efficient.
- Gordon Shupe, assistant vice presi
dent of the electronic banking depart
ment at the National Bank cf Com
merce in Lincoln, said fraud involving
POS machines is less common than
checks that bounce. Both automated
tellers and POS machines confirm that
the requested amount exists in the
aeount before the transaction is allowed.
This helps reduce fraud, Shupe said.
Most cf the problems with debit card
fraud involve stolen cards, he said.
Lcs3 than 1 percent cf the total dol
lars dispensed through bank machines
involve fraud, Shupe said. And 95 per
cent cf these cases involve cards bcr-
so successful that higher than the national percentage, rowed or taken by family members,
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roommates and friends.
lUsinessmen, officials
1 ra r
lesmy ior,
against Dan
EyBrciGiOjrd
Bellevue Mayer Joe Eald-;,in Thurs
day tsld the Legislature's Miscellane
ous Subjects Committee how 15 months
of proceeds from video lottery machines
turned that city's $5C0,C0O deficit into
a $2 million surplus and financed sev
eral community betterment projects.
Shelby Sturgeon, a Ddievue store
manager, testified how he and "several
others like me" lost more than $10,000
to the machines.
These accounts illustrate the schi
zophrenic effects of the machines,
which LB 144 would reinstate in Ne
braska. Senators heard more than 414
hoars testimony from 30 people. About
150 people crowded the hearing room,
and about 20 more watched the hearing
on closed circuit TV in another room. .
Proponents, mostiy city and county
cfHcials from asfcras Scottsbluf? and
South Sioux City, said their govern
ments have become accustomed to the
proceeds and their cities need the
money. They said that if Nebraska did
not lilt its ban, their communities
would soon lose money to Wyoming and
lows, states where lottery legislation is
pending.
When the machines were operating
in Nebraska, lowans cams across state
lines to play them said Bellevue and
South Sioux &ty businessmen and
Baldwin said receipts from the Iowa
Nebraska bridge near Bellevue in
creased when the machines were oper
ating there. If Nebraska continued Urn
ban and Iowa legalizes the machines,
ha said, Ke&rssksns will cross the
biidga in record numbers.
Ke&ss&s nd its cities dll lose
ore mossy ia'thst slttsatioa. South
CSty imiiistrstcr Lsse Hed-
qdst mli. ' .
''Business mill flow asrsy frcra Nor
theast Nebraska and oar corafnurdt? if
Iowa puts th lottery in," Bcdquist
sdd. , "
county is losing $2,700 a day without
the machines. He said a similar bill
Wednesday won committee approval in
the Wyoming Legislature. He said he is
afraid that Western Nebraska dollars
will flow across the border if Wyoming
adopts the machines and Nebraska
does not
' Some people have become as de
pendent on the machines as cities have
become on the rev enue proceeds.
Sturgeon said that he doesn't know
why, but something made him play the
machines time and time again, although
he was losing $200 to $300 a day.
' "It gets past the point of a voluntary
tax when you feel like you have to play
these things," Sturgeon said. -
Sturgeon said that a video lottery
machine seduces compulsive gamblers
because "it is on all the time. It never
shuts cX"
"If you legalize these machines," he
told the committee, "you might as well
legalize cocaine. You can tax that,
too."
Francis McGill, an Omaha business-,
man, said the losses h incurred play
ing the machines led him to a life of
crime. He said he stoled money to cover
his debt and knows cf three other men
who embezzled their businesses to
cover their debts. But McGill said he's
not against gambling if people who do
it sensibly.
"I absolutely envy the people who
can gamble for the pleasure and enjoy
ment cf it," McGill said "I would hope
that there's a better way to raise
(revenues). Ccntlassd en Pag3 6
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Pam Williams, owRi
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a restaarast in South Sioux City, said
her business was suffering already. She
said she made about $5,000 weekly
while seven machines were operating
in the establishment, she said. Now she
makes less than $2,500, a week, she
said.
Former Scottsbluf County Coramis-
2r Clint Morrison said that his
Tli8 f-J'.a-irS i-cidouts mm reported to
ths UNL police between 1:01 .ra. mi 1159
p.m. Weiaesy.
1:81 m.m. Disturbance reported at
EtHeck Qasargla. Person was trrssted on
chsim cf distsarbini the peace mi assault
S.U7 a.ra. Frssd'olent ur.e cf a baric
p.EJu Wslkt reported stelca
fern Cither Ball
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The Department of the Navy has a
few scholarships available to qualified
sophomore and junior engineering
students.
REQUIREMENTS:
Under 26 years old
U.S. Citizen
eGPA 3.0 on up
Any Engineering degree
SCHOLARSHIP:
$3,000.00 up front
$1,000.00 per month
for the duration of your college career
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