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New Mexico Lottery testing lottery ticket adsNews Story
If you've ever played the lottery, you know how important that little piece of paper can be. It's why the New Mexico Lottery is putting a little something extra on their lottery tickets: Advertisements. Representatives with the New Mexico Lottery say they launched a pilot program to see how they fare when it comes to offering ad space on game tickets. We want to understand how our systems perform, how our employees perform and then how successful those advertisements might be for the comp
Dec 9, 2014, 12:19 pm - Lottery News

Scotland decision could ride on a lucky lottery ticketNews Story
If Scotland votes to separate from the United Kingdom on Thursday, could nationalists have a lucky lottery ticket to thank? Three years ago, Colin Weir, a former television cameraman, and his wife, Christine, a former psychiatric nurse, were enjoying a night watching CSI on the TV. Before going to bed, Christine decided to check their lottery ticket numbers. She checked, and then checked again: the couple from the seaside Scottish town of Largs had just won the 161 million (US$261 million) Eu
Sep 16, 2014, 5:05 pm - Lottery News

Illinois Lottery cancels My3 gameNews Story
Last drawing Sunday By Todd Northrop Illinois lottery officials, acting on the recommendation of its private manager, Northstar Lottery Group, announced Tuesday they are removing My3 from its draw game portfolio. The final drawing of My3 will be Sunday, September 14th at 6:30pm. The game was launched two years ago and was designed to be a simplified alternative to the Pick 3 and Pick 4 games. However, due to its sales performance, the game is being removed from the draw game portfoli
Sep 10, 2014, 6:58 pm - Lottery News

10 things you might not know about the lotteryNews Story
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn decided this month not to take any more chances with Northstar Lottery Group, the company that runs the Illinois Lottery, after it fell far short of promised revenue. Northstar's firing was one of several recent lottery-related news developments. In California, officials unveiled a program to let drivers buy lottery tickets at the gas pump. And the Los Angeles Ethics Commission backed the idea of awarding cash prizes to randomly selected voters in order to boost turnou
Aug 25, 2014, 7:20 am - Lottery News

With Northstar terminated, what will the Illinois Lottery do now?News Story
So what's next for the Illinois Lottery? That's the big question looming in the wake of Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn's politically-expedient move late last week to fire Northstar Lottery Group. Quinn made history late in 2010 when he inked a 10-year contract with Northstar to become the first-ever private manager of any state lottery in the nation. Two other states now have private lottery managers Indiana and New Jersey. Quinn's move last week to terminate Northstar may prove too little too la
Aug 23, 2014, 10:27 pm - Lottery News

Illinois to fire private lottery operatorNews Story
The bumpy marriage between the state and the private company that operates the Illinois Lottery is ending in a divorce. Gov. Pat Quinn's office confirmed to me today that it is ending its contract with Northstar Lottery Group LLC to operate the $2 billion-a-year lottery system, seven years earlier than scheduled. It is not yet certain whether the separation will be voluntary by both parties, but a decision to end the contract has been made. The governor's office has directed the lotter
Aug 23, 2014, 10:20 pm - Lottery News

Indecision at the Illinois Lottery over new national gameNews Story
The Illinois Department of Lottery is working to decide whether it wants to take a chance on a new Monopoly game that will be rolled out in October across the United States. The decision-making process is hurting the profitability of the Illinois Lottery, according the private company that manages it. Northstar Lottery Group, which was awarded a 10-year contract to manage the Illinois Lottery in 2010, is pushing for the state to include a new, national $5 Monopoly game. Northstar CEO
Jul 29, 2014, 7:06 am - Lottery News

NJ court rules against union's effort to stop state lottery privatizationNews Story
A state appeals court last week ruled against a public workers union in its effort to stop New Jersey from privatizing parts of the state lottery. Despite months of objections from Democratic lawmakers and union leaders, the state announced last June that it signed a 15-year contract for a private company, Northstar New Jersey, to manage the sales and marketing branches of the lottery. Gov. Chris Christie's administration said the move will bring New Jersey a surge in revenue. But the Comm
Jul 8, 2014, 7:27 am - Lottery News

Illinois legislator urges Gov. to fire company running the lotteryNews Story
Northstar disagrees, says revenue targets met Citing nearly three years of lackluster performance, an Illinois state lawmaker is urging Governor Pat Quinn to fire the company his administration hired to run the Illinois Lottery. State Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, said the state's contract with Northstar Lottery Group has cost taxpayers hundreds of millions in lost revenues due to the firm's failure to meet revenue goals. The privatization of the Illinois State Lottery has been nothing
May 15, 2014, 12:13 pm - Lottery News

Illinois Lottery mulling changes to drawingsNews Story
Could this be a move to all-computerized drawings and the death of real drawings in Illinois? After 20 years of perky hosts and ping pong balls, the future of live Illinois Lottery drawings on WGN-Ch.9 is up in the air. Lottery officials said Tuesday they are considering parting ways with WGN-TV, home to daily drawings since 1994, when the current one-year contract expires in June. Advances in lottery technology, an influx of new games and the move by Tribune Co. to pull the evening drawin
Apr 16, 2014, 8:07 am - Lottery News