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Georgia Lottery has best quarter everNews Story
The Georgia Lottery had its strongest ticket sales ever during the past quarter, relieving concerns from state officials that slow sales would prove costly to the HOPE scholarship program.Lottery officials said yesterday that they sold $827 million worth of tickets during the third quarter of fiscal 2005 from January through March. For the first nine months of fiscal 2005, sales hit $2.15 billion, up 4.8 percent from the first three quarters of last year.Sales were particularly strong for inst
Apr 15, 2005, 10:06 am - Lottery News

Illinois House Votes To Create Lottery Game Supporting VeteransNews Story
Illinois veterans could end up getting extra financial help from the state lottery.The Illinois House Tuesday voted to create a new scratch-off lottery game and give the profit to veterans' programs.The idea passed 63 to 53. It now goes to the state Senate.Supporters say veterans need more support during a period of tight state budgets and this would be a way to raise money.But critics say veterans should not depend on the whims of people buying instant lottery tickets. They also say it might ta
Apr 13, 2005, 11:42 am - Lottery News

Opinion: Time has come for a lottery in North CarolinaNews Story
Charlotte Observer EditorialBy Jim Black, N.C. House SpeakerNorth Carolina must make the education of our children our number one priority and find the needed revenue to fund it. The future of our state and its people depend upon it.Unfortunately, the North Carolina legislature is facing a budget shortfall of more than $1.2 billion in the upcoming year. In order to continue improving education, legislators will either have to increase taxes or find new revenue sources to help fund education.Rais
Mar 28, 2005, 11:30 am - Lottery News

Money woes push some to reconsider N.C. lotteryNews Story
For years, North Carolina has held out against the nation's lottery boom, making it the largest of just 10 states in the nation without government-run gambling.Now, though, the numbers may finally be coming up in favor of a numbers game in the only East Coast state without one.The speaker of the state House of Representatives has said he now favors a lottery, joining second-term Gov. Mike Easley, a longtime proponent. Speaker Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg, says he intends to bring a lottery bill to t
Mar 28, 2005, 10:51 am - Lottery News

Showdown over N.C. lottery coming within 2 weeksNews Story
If North Carolina House Speaker Jim Black has his way, the General Assembly will be plunged next month into a short, intense drama over whether state government should start a lottery.Last week, before the assembled capital press corps, Mr. Black, a Democrat from Mecklenburg County, repeated that he expects a vote on a lottery bill in the House within two weeks.Tonight, he will announce his appointments to a special committee that will work up the proposal, presumably during the next week. If th
Mar 28, 2005, 10:18 am - Lottery News

N.C. Speaker pushing for lottery vote within 2 weeksNews Story
House Speaker Jim Black said he wants lawmakers to vote on a state lottery in the next two weeks, and he virtually guaranteed Wednesday that the proposal would reach his chamber's floor.A state numbers game, a regular winner in the Senate that typically dies in the House, could fail in a House committee -- in theory. But Black, D-Mecklenburg, said the education lottery plan he and Gov. Mike Easley are pushing would be heard by a special committee.Black, a lottery supporter, will appoint the comm
Mar 24, 2005, 8:49 am - Lottery News

First WV lottery winner gets final annuity checkNews Story
A Wood County man who was the West Virginia Lottery's first jackpot winner received his last of 20 payments on Wednesday.Russell Husk, a private man who doesn't do interviews, was a a 24-year-old maintenance worker for a Parkersburg restaurant when he won $3.74 million on March 20, 1986. He won the money after spinning the lottery wheel on the weekly televised Grand Prize Show.The lottery at that time only offered instant tickets and spinning the wheel was how players could win jackpots. Husk ha
Mar 18, 2005, 11:51 am - Lottery News

Tennessee Lottery Sales Pass $1 BillionNews Story
The Tennessee Lottery announced today that gross ticket sales have surpassed $1 billion after one year and seven weeks of ticket sales.This is terrific news for education, said CEO and President Rebecca Paul. Tennessee players have embraced this new way to raise dollars for education. This milestone represents an ongoing level of success that we are committed to continue.Lottery officials said they soon will start their fourth computerized game, set to begin late spring. The new game is said
Mar 14, 2005, 11:27 am - Lottery News

Oklahoma lawmakers acused of holding lottery fundsNews Story
An aide to Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry says he's concerned that the House hasn't approved a request for supplemental funding for the Oklahoma Education Lottery Commission.State Finance Director Scott Meacham says he hopes that Republicans who didn't support the lottery aren't trying to sabotage something the people overwhelmingly support.Meacham commented after the House and Senate passed $63 million in supplemental funding bills Tuesday, but not the proposed $500,000 in funding for the lottery
Mar 10, 2005, 12:48 pm - Lottery News

Tennessee flooded with a multitude of lottery billsNews Story
On the brink of $1 billion in ticket sales, the year-old Tennessee lottery is the subject of 53 bills in the General Assembly to alter its operations.State Rep. Ulysses Jones Jr., D-Memphis, who chaired an abbreviated meeting of the joint Lottery Oversight Committee on Monday, said the number of bills to change the lottery was more than I expected. But every bill's sponsor will not leave the legislative session happy, he said. I don't think you'll see 53 bills coming out of committee, Jones sa
Mar 8, 2005, 11:27 am - Lottery News