The Mississippi Lottery Corporation says it plans for stores to be selling scratch-off lottery tickets by Dec. 1.
"That's the target date," said Gerard Gibert, vice chairman of the lottery board. "It could be a little before, or a little after — we haven't selected the vendors yet... But the plan is to have scratch-offs in as many retailers as possible by Dec. 1."
Gibert said the plan is to come out with regular state drawing tickets sometime in the first quarter of 2020, and multi-state tickets in the second quarter.
In May, the Lottery Corp. announced Thomas Shaheen as the first president of the burgeoning lottery. Now the board is asking for two sets of proposals from companies to set up and run the lottery:
- Online Lottery Gaming System — The vendor will provide equipment and services to operate an online lottery game system and a statewide communications network. It will provide online lottery game products and services, instant ticket validation and some marketing services.
- Instant Ticket Lottery Game Services — The vendor will start and operate an instant lottery game, including the manufacture, warehousing and distribution of tickets and marketing support services.
The request for proposals seek vendors with experience in the lottery industry to help the Lottery Corp. set up and operate drawing lottery games such as Powerball and Mega Millions plus instant scratch-off lottery tickets.
The RFPs must be submitted by Aug. 2.
After decades of debate, lawmakers in a summer special session last year approved a state lottery, which is expected to be up and running in 2019, as early as this summer. It's expected to net the state about $40 million the first year, then $80 million to $100 million a year thereafter.
For the next decade, up to $80 million a year from lottery proceeds will go toward working on state roads and bridges or to match federal infrastructure money. Any revenue above $80 million would go to public education, the Education Enhancement Fund.
This would be a nice Christmas gift to the residents of Mississippi. I think with them taking things slowly glitches will be ironed out before they arise.
Expecting (hoping) to see a newsflash from IGT about getting one of the contracts.
Good Luck to all the players in Mississippi!
Finally! Now I can buy from both Mississippi AND Louisiana! One PB, one MM and one state Lotto for 20 draws is my usual ticket purchase; $10 weekly is cheap enough entertainment; now I suppose I’ll have to increase my budget!
The Mississippi Lottery Corporation says it plans for stores to be selling scratch-off lottery tickets by Dec. 1.
No PB, no MM, no state lotto, and not even a pick-3?
And with 35 legal casinos, will Mississippi gamblers really buy scratch-offs?
thirty five legal casinos----really? Did you know that several have permanently closed there, especially Tunica? Las Vegas doesn't have that many. I think you forgot your dash, Stack 47; 3-5 is more like it.
As for MM & PB don't they have to get approval from GA (MM) and IA (PB) or through their consortiums for approval. For all we know they haven't even applied yet. Look how long it took CA to get Powerball and only after they realized how much money California was losing did they get it.
Las Vegas doesn't have that many, Bleudiog101?
Today, Las Vegas has 122 casinos. These casinos have over 115000 gaming machines and over 4000 total table games. Golden Nugget is one of the most famous casinos in Las Vegas.
I'm just reporting what I read and the World casino directory says Mississippi has 35 casinos. Where did you read where they only have 3 to 5?
And where are you getting your Vegas information from because there are 45 casinos just on the "strip". I read where there 104 casinos within the Las Vegas city limits and 334 in the state of Nevada.
You're really missing the point on starting a lottery with just scratch-offs in a state with so many other gaming options. It's not like 40 years ago when horse tracks were the only competition. Eventually they'll have MM and PB and some other state drawn games, but don't be surprise if the revenue is much less than they're expecting.
Have no idea why California was one of the last lottery states to offer PB, but when they did, they had MM, a lotto game, and several state games. And not exactly a good comparison to the Mississippi lottery start up.
You are 100% correct, it is 344 state of Nevada. Mea culpa, was only including casinos on the immediate strip like where Caesars to Encore is.
I can remember as a child us crossing over to New Hampshire, the state that in modern times started the lottery. It was called New Hampshire Sweepstakes, so it does take time for a state to build up a lottery. I realize comparing CA to MS for lotteries is like comparing apples and oranges. My point was it took YEARS for CA to finally add Powerball. IMHO it was only after massive PB jackpots that their Legislature finally approved it. Maybe one day when PR is back on its feet they can offer Mega Millions...who knows/who cares?