Texas Lottery Director joins Lottery Industry Hall of Fame

Oct 8, 2014, 4:25 pm (3 comments)

Texas Lottery

AUSTIN, Tx. — Public Gaming Research Institute has inducted Gary Grief, executive director of the Texas Lottery, to its Lottery Industry Hall of Fame.  The induction ceremony took place at the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries conference in Atlantic City.

"I want to congratulate Executive Director Grief for his much-deserved honor," said J. Winston Krause, chairman of the Texas Lottery Commission. "Gary's knowledge, experience and leadership are key elements to the continued success of the Texas Lottery."

The Lottery Industry Hall of Fame was founded in 2005 to honor those who have contributed to making the lottery industry a success. Recipients of the award are elected by the current members of the Lottery Industry Hall of Fame.

Grief was appointed executive director of the Texas Lottery Commission in March 2010. Under Grief's leadership, the Texas Lottery has seen record sales and revenue, contributing more than $17 billion to the state's Foundation School Fund, which supports public education in Texas.

With 22 years in the industry, Grief has been an integral part of the success of the Texas Lottery Commission since its inception. He was appointed in 1991, by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, to the original eight-member Lottery Task Force assigned to research and launch the Texas Lottery.

In 1992, Grief assumed the role of statewide manager of claim centers, overseeing 24 field offices. Grief served in this role until 1997, when he accepted the position of director of lottery operations. While serving in this role, Grief received the 2002 "Powers Award" for Performance Excellence in Lottery Operations by NASPL.

In 2002, Grief was appointed by the Commission to serve the first of what would be three separate terms as acting executive director. Between and after these appointments, Grief served as deputy executive director until his official appointment as executive director in 2010.

A native Texan, Grief is a graduate of the University of Texas at the Permian Basin where he earned a bachelor's degree in business administration.

Press Release

Comments

rcbbuckeye's avatarrcbbuckeye

A nice feather in Gary's hat.

Congratulations!

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by rcbbuckeye on Oct 8, 2014

A nice feather in Gary's hat.

Congratulations!

Good Grief- he  finally made it.....

Party

Stack47

Many of the members of this hall of fame are lottery directors and very obvious one of the Texas Lottery directors should be part of it. Sort of odd chairman of the Texas Lottery Commission was overlooked, but Jaymin Patel, President and CEO of GTech was inducted three years ago.

However it is the "lottery industry" hall of fame so don't be surprised if the inventor of Monopoly Millionaires' Club is inducted next year.

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