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Report: Minnesota Lottery Director haunted by auditNews Story
When Minnesota Lottery Director George Andersen went to work Monday to face a 10-hour meeting with legislative auditors, he acted like he was going to his execution, his wife later told detectives.Darlene Andersen also said that her husband feared that the couple would lose everything because of the audit.The report about Andersen's death, which was released Friday, shows how greatly Andersen's job troubles were weighing on him before he took his life at his Washington County home.Darlene An
Jan 30, 2004, 11:36 pm - Lottery News

Lottery director's ties to St. Paul vendor probedNews Story
Auditors probing the business dealings of Minnesota State Lottery director George Andersen have been pursuing a claim that he steered thousands of dollars of lottery money to a vendor he controlled.Andersen was found unconscious Tuesday outside his home in Hugo. He had a self-inflicted wound to his wrist, and a knife was found nearby, authorities said. A preliminary autopsy report released Wednesday called his death a suicide and said he died from hypothermia due to exposure.Andersen died a day
Jan 30, 2004, 6:42 am - Lottery News

Friends Say Audit Troubled Minnesota Lottery ChiefNews Story
George Andersen built the Minnesota Lottery from the ground up, and some who knew him say he looked upon it less like a bureaucrat and more like a proud and protective father.Andersen committed suicide Tuesday, a day after meeting with a government auditor examining the lottery's operations. He was found outside his home, and an autopsy determined he died of hypothermia in single-digit termperatures after cutting his wrists, said sheriff's Cmdr. Scott Malinosky said.Andersen's death has focused
Jan 29, 2004, 6:08 am - Lottery News

Kansas Lottery joins Amber AlertNews Story
Alerts will be transmitted to lotto terminals to be printedThe Kansas Lottery announced Wednesday that it joined the Kansas Amber Alert program, which helps locate missing and abducted children.Amber Alert was implemented in Kansas in March 2002. There are 96 Amber Alert programs nationwide.When an alert is activated by a local law enforcement agency, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation disseminates the information to other law enforcement agencies and media outlets to broadcast the information.N
Jan 15, 2004, 5:35 am - Lottery News

Record lottery winner accused of making death threatsNews Story
The winner of the largest single lottery jackpot in U.S. history has been accused of threatening to kill the manager of a bar.Andrew Jack Whittaker, who won the $314.9 million Powerball jackpot on Christmas 2002, was arraigned Tuesday on charges of threatening Todd Parsons, the manager of Billy Sundays Bar and Grill in St. Albans.Whittaker, who reportedly was banned from the bar, is accused of trying to hit Parsons and threatening to have the victim and his family killed, according to police
Jan 7, 2004, 11:36 am - Lottery News

$315M Lottery Winner Shuns AttentionNews Story
$315M Lottery Winner Andrew Whittaker Says He Wishes He'd Been Quieter About Hitting JackpotThe letters never stop. Requests, pleas, hard-luck stories, tales to break your heart: thousands of them, enough to fill hip-high filing cabinets that line three conference-room walls in Andrew Jack Whittaker's new office.They come by the dozens, day after day, though it has been a year since Whittaker won the richest undivided lottery jackpot in U.S. history $314.9 million, payable in an after-tax lum
Dec 26, 2003, 3:50 am - Lottery News

Ex-lawmaker, lottery leader diesNews Story
He retired from public service at age 94 after serving in several positionsTributes poured in Friday for E.D. Debbs Potts, a former lawmaker, president of the Oregon Senate, and until this month, the only chairman of the Oregon Lottery Commission.Potts was found dead Friday morning at his home outside Grants Pass. He turned 95 last week. The Josephine County Sheriffs Office has not listed a cause of death.Debbs Potts was a role model for many of us and a credit to his state, said Gov. Ted Kulong
Dec 22, 2003, 6:08 am - Lottery News

You've won the lottery! Now what?News Story
Hitting the jackpot may be a fantasy, but what's the harm in dreaming? Here's some realistic advice on what to do if those numbers prove to be magic.It's after 11 p.m. on Saturday night, a night like any other Saturday night. You're ready for bed and yelling at the dog to get out of the garbage. With little enthusiasm or hope, you tune in to the drawing of the state's lottery numbers on TV. A quick glance at the numbers tells you that you wasted yet another ... wait a minute! The numbers on your
Dec 17, 2003, 4:26 am - Lottery News

300 years of winners, losers in state's lottery-history exhibitNews Story
Scandal strikes the lottery system; a former politician who's a mathematician argues passionately that lotteries should be banned; the General Assembly holds hearings.The scenario sounds like the state lottery of today: Lincoln Park's executive director and the CEO of Lincoln's parent company stand indicted for allegedly trying to bribe the law firm of the former speaker of the House. Rodney Driver, a former state representative and mathematics professor, argues to anyone who will listen that lo
Oct 6, 2003, 4:04 am - Lottery News

Paul gets brusque farewell from Georgia lottery boardNews Story
When Rebecca Paul gave three weeks' notice that she was stepping down as head of Georgia's lottery to start Tennessee's, her bosses showered her with praise and wished her well.Days later, the lottery's board of directors barred Paul from her desk and declared it wanted the $500,000-a-year executive gone yesterday literally.Officially, Paul's last day on the job became Sept. 5, two days before she phoned Georgia's governor and told him she had accepted the job of Tennessee Education Lottery Corp
Sep 20, 2003, 8:57 pm - Lottery News