| Posted: October 20, 2006, 11:05 am - IP Logged |
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You know, I often wonder the same thing myself. It's not like they're reinventing the wheel each time. Why not just start out with a slate of "baseline" games?
The people they hire to run the games are industry veterans, the contract vendors have been performing the same lotto services for years, and the technology is basically the same for every state. Once the lottery machine is installed in retailer locations, it's just as easy to sell four or five games as it is to sell one game.
Also, it's not like lottery players in North Carolina are going to dislike any of the games like Pick 3, 4, 5, or 6. I don't understand why it takes "lots of feedback from players saying they want a four-digit game" in order to start Pick 4 -- four or five months later no less.
Yet, all of the new lotteries go through this tortuous ramp-up phase that takes 2-3 years. Maybe it's just the slow-turning wheels of government?
Maybe it's just the slow-turning wheels of government?
It's what I've said from the beginning, NC players are lucky to even have a lottery. The Lottery Commission is brow beaten. Every step and move for a successful lottery is still fought with opposition and controlled. It not that they don't know how to do it. They don't have the power to do it the right way.
You would think that the NC Lottery Commission would call the shots - but not so. The high percentage to go to education was for sure to bring it down - written into law before it was passed. That's the reason scratch offs are so crappy. That wasn't a coincidence. It was meant to hinder. When you see NC doing stupid stuff it's money power. They control the local government decisions that can hurt their pockets. That's the reason it took so long to even get a lottery here. In Mississippi we know it's the casinos that keep the lottery out. In NC, it's was conservative old money coupled with the antics of being in the bible belt.
Look at the Logo. It looks like the rendition of an intern. And the drawing!
An 11:22 drawing broadcasted on a crappy TV station in the LARGEST city, which happens to be a conservative city and they want to keep it that way. Hence - visibility.
There are two things happening with the NC Lottery, anti-lottery people fighting with witch hunts (lawsuits bombed out) and old money calling the shots.
Example of old money - "If you broadcast NC Lottery drawings on a particular (best and most reliable) TV station when most people watch TV, we will withdraw our money donations in certain areas in the city" "If the NC Lottery's visibility is not kept low we will withdraw our donations and support" Hence, Powerball before pick 3.
Sheehan knows how to do it right. He's just in the presence of fools. I wouldn't be surprised if he moved on.