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NJ Lottery private operator on track to meet budget projectionsNews Story
Turnaround for Northstar after two years of missed targets Increased sales mean New Jersey's lottery contribution to the state budget is on track to meet its target for 2016 after falling short the first two years of a long-term contract with a private operator. The operator of the lottery's sales and marketing, Northstar New Jersey, is budgeted to return $1 billion to the state to help fund programs for education, disabled veterans and senior citizens. Through the first three months of th
Oct 16, 2015, 10:22 am - Lottery News

Illinois fires lottery operator NorthstarNews Story
Will continue to operate lottery for more than a year The nation's first private company to manage a state lottery was fired Friday by the Illinois Governor after years of failing to make the lofty revenue targets it promised. In a news release Friday, Gov. Bruce Rauner announced that his office had reached a termination agreement with Northstar Lottery Group that will remove the firm as private manager as of Jan. 1, 2017, or until a replacement is chosen. The agreement also stipulated
Sep 19, 2015, 10:48 am - Lottery News

Ohio Lottery to conduct review of operationsNews Story
Not a move to privatization, officials say State officials say there are no plans to privatize the Ohio Lottery Commission amid a pending top-to-bottom review of its management and a document holding out privatized state lotteries as models of interest. A state request for proposals issued on Aug. 24 seeks a consultant to conduct a comprehensive review of the lottery and recommend ways to contain costs and maximize profits, which largely are routed to public schools. One part of the do
Sep 3, 2015, 7:39 am - Lottery News

Internet sales of Minnesota lottery tickets coming to haltNews Story
Minnesota's lottery is primed to pull the plug on ticket sales over the Internet. In a series of steps beginning Friday, the lottery will stop selling Mega Millions, Hot Lotto, Gopher 5, Powerball and instant-win tickets online. When the instant-win games launched in early 2014, Minnesota became the first state to give the scratch-off franchise a virtual option. But state lawmakers were instantly uncomfortable and passed a law this spring that forced the lottery to stop those sales. The lo
Aug 28, 2015, 8:17 am - Lottery News

N.C. legislators look to expand lotteryNews Story
Lawmakers in Raleigh are looking to place bets on the state lottery once again as a source of more money for education programs across North Carolina. House and Senate budget negotiators are working on a plan, already adopted by the state Senate, that would significantly increase advertising of the lottery's scratch-off and other offerings, including the Powerball and Mega Millions jackpot games. Another part of the plan, also backed by the Senate: Making a version of instant tickets availabl
Aug 22, 2015, 10:07 pm - Lottery News

NJ Lottery officials still investigating cause of massive outageNews Story
The exact cause and circumstances of a five-day outage that blocked nearly half of New Jersey's lottery retailers from selling printed tickets like Pick 3 and Mega Millions earlier this month are still a mystery, but a few determinations are unanimous. The blackout, although anomalous, was unacceptable, may have been detected sooner and should have been handled better, state officials and executives from Northstar New Jersey, the group responsible for the lottery's sales and marketing, said a
Aug 20, 2015, 8:27 pm - Lottery News

St. Louis city employees claim $70 million Powerball jackpotNews Story
St. Louis' newest millionaires are two city employees who bought a winning Powerball ticket this month. Tom Rea, a building maintenance supervisor for the city's department of corrections and his wife, Catherine Ruggeri-Rea, the city's courts administrator, were announced as the winners of a $70 million jackpot at a news conference Wednesday morning. Rea, 62, has worked for the city for 40 years. Ruggeri-Rea, 61, has been the city's courts administrator for nearly 10 years. Rea bought t
Jul 30, 2015, 11:21 am - Lottery News

N.J. lawmaker proposes a lottery to pay off student loansNews Story
A New Jersey lawmaker says the state should try something novel to help people climb out of all that debt from their college days: set up a lottery in which the winning tickets pay off student loans. State Assemblyman John Burzichelli (D-Gloucester) on Monday introduced legislation (A4631) that would make New Jersey the first state in the country to establish a lottery in which the winnings would go exclusively to college debt. Any vehicle that could provide some relief it seems to me it
Jul 7, 2015, 11:27 am - Lottery News

Private management could be Alabama lottery optionNews Story
If Alabama gets a lottery, private management may at least be an option. But the Republican leader of the Senate said Wednesday he did not want to commit to any particular proposal, being wary of some of the negative experiences of other states with private managers. Having no experience in the lottery field, we're just going to have to look at what other states have done and what's worked best for them, he said. Marsh is sponsoring legislation that would establish a lottery and gambli
May 22, 2015, 7:17 pm - Lottery News

Wyoming Lottery refuses to release individual salariesNews Story
The Wyoming Lottery Corp. wants to keep its salaries and benefits secret from the public, with officials saying disclosure will hurt the new organization from a competitive standpoint. The Casper Star-Tribune sent a records request to the lottery, asking for compensation of executives and board members. CEO Jon Clontz denied the request May 8. The lottery and newspaper disagree in the interpretation of the 2013 law that created the organization. Lottery officials argue it is a private c
May 18, 2015, 7:13 am - Lottery News