TULSA, OKLA. ? Oklahoma’s first lottery players scratched off their tickets Wednesday, ushering in a statewide game intended to raise millions of dollars for public education.

A couple minutes after the $1, $2 and $5 scratch-off tickets went on sale just after 5 a.m., the state confirmed its first winner at an Enid convenience store. A bustling Tulsa QuikTrip sold nearly 400 tickets in the game’s first two hours.

By 3 p.m., first-day lottery sales exceeded $1.2 million, said Jim Scroggins, the lottery’s executive director.

The lottery’s three first big winners collected $777 each in the $1 “Lucky 7s” game. They were identified by lottery officials as Ellen Kirkpatrick and Michael May, of Oklahoma City, and Gracie Morris, of Bristow.

Oklahoma became the nation’s 41st state to offer a lottery and plans to join the national Powerball system in January. Online lottery sales are scheduled to start in November.

Gov. Brad Henry had pushed the lottery as a way to help fund education, and voters overwhelmingly approved its creation last fall, despite strong opposition from church groups in this Bible Belt state.

Players at a Tulsa convenience store had winning, not schools, on their minds as they took their chances. Besides “Lucky 7s,” they played games called “Rush to Cash,” “Oklahoma Gusher” and “$25,000 Jackpot.”

Rachel Davis tears off lottery tickets for a customer Wednesday at a gas station in Norman, Okla. Oklahoma's first lottery players scratched off their tickets Wednesday, ushering in a statewide game intended to raise millions of dollars for public education.

Jo Barnes and Pam Heape, emergency dispatchers on the graveyard shift, bought the first tickets at a downtown QuikTrip and scratched them away.

“No good,” Barnes sighed over her losing ticket. “No good either,” she said, glancing over Heape’s shoulder.

Another Tulsan, Chris Goble, left the store with only a soda, saying he had voted against the lottery and wasn’t into gambling.

“Philosophically, I didn’t think it was the right thing to do,” he said.

State lottery officials said everything appeared to be going smoothly Wednesday as sales began at about 1,200 businesses. But some stores reported problems.

At Tannehill Country Store near McAlester, owner Fay Hopkins said she initially couldn’t log in to her lottery computer because of a mix-up with another store. A lottery representative helped fix the problem.

At Buzzy’s Grocery in Clinton, owner Todd McAtee said he had to turn away about 20 potential lottery ticket buyers because he hadn’t received any tickets.

Tulsa QuikTrip Manager Royce Hubble couldn’t get his lottery computer to work shortly before tickets were to go on sale. He found out later that he had tried to activate it before the 5:01 a.m. start time. And at first, the clerks didn’t know how to make the machine recognize a winning ticket.

“I’m going to be making a lot of phone calls today,” Hubble sighed. An hour later, as clerks tallied up ticket after ticket, he added, “It’s really going to be second nature in a week.”

Beverly Hughes, director of sales and marketing for the Lottery Commission, said a backlog of stores seeking approval to sell the tickets meant some had not received their lottery equipment or tickets. About 1,800 stores have sought approval, with dozens of applications arriving daily, she said.

The commission cannot distribute tickets “until everything is finalized,” she said.

Officials predict the lottery will bring in $65 million for the rest of the fiscal year that ends June 30, and as much as $150 million a year after that.

Education will get 30 percent of net lottery sales the first year and 35 percent in future years. The rest of the money will go to prizes and toward the cost of operating the lottery. A constitutional “lockbox” approved by voters ensures lottery proceeds will not be used to supplant existing education funding.

The maximum prize for the $1 ticket, “Lucky 7’s,” is $777. The two $2 games – “Rush to Cash” and “Oklahoma Gusher” – feature maximum prizes of $5,000. The $5 game – “25,000 Jackpot” – has a top prize of $25,000.