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New Arkansas jackpot game boosting lottery revenue after dropNews Story
New raffle game coming in September Last year, the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery surpassed $1 billion in total ticket sales since it began in 2009. In its fiscal year ending June 30, 2012, the lottery had revenue of $473 million, up from $465 million in 2011. But things aren't looking so hot for 2013: From July 1 through April 30, the lottery has had revenue of $365 million, net income of $74 million and had transferred $71 million to the Arkansas Department of Higher Education. Compare
Jun 3, 2013, 8:08 am - Lottery News

Arkansas Lottery director appeals to state legislature to reject pending billNews Story
Restrictive measure will drastically reduce prizes, cut revenue, director says Statement from Bishop Woosley, Director, Arkansas Lottery Commission Friday afternoon, HB 2263 will be presented to the House Rules committee at the Capitol. HB2263 mandates that 25% of total lottery proceeds be used to fund college scholarships. The Arkansas Lottery Commission (ALC) strongly opposes this bill because of the immediate and detrimental effect it will have on lottery ticket sales, revenues paid
Apr 11, 2013, 7:22 pm - Lottery News

Oklahoma lottery making strides to increase prizesNews Story
Oklahoma lottery officials voted Tuesday to reduce the amount of money paid to nearly 2,000 retailers that sell lottery tickets to increase prizes in almost a last resort to boost sales. The Lottery Commission has reduced its operating costs to less than 2.5 percent of its $192 million in revenue by reducing office space and cutting the number of staff from 40 to 26, said Rollo Redburn, the agency's executive director. Operating expenses were cut from $9.7 million in 2008 to $4.8 million t
Mar 20, 2013, 9:23 am - Lottery News

Illinois Lottery seeks to collect $20 million from operator Northstar Lottery GroupNews Story
But the lottery has not shown Northstar the final audit numbers The Illinois Lottery said Monday it is entitled to a $20 million payout from Lottery private manager Northstar Lottery Group because the group fell short of the total Illinois Lottery income Northstar said would be generated in fiscal year 2012. Noted Illinois Lottery Superintendent Michael Jones: Northstar won the private manager contract by projecting a net income of $851.2 million in FY12, but failed to reach this goal, con
Mar 19, 2013, 4:09 pm - Lottery News

Lawmakers going after unclaimed lottery moneyNews Story
So a guy walks into a gas station, buys a scratch-off, wins a few bucks, gets distracted with some fool thing and eventually puts the lucky ticket through the wash in his Wranglers. It happens. No big deal. But for state lawmakers in a tough budget year nationwide, the unclaimed prizes are adding up to a tempting pot of cash. It's something we've seen an increased interest in this year, said Jon Griffin, a policy associate at the National Conference of State Legislatures in Washington.
Mar 4, 2013, 8:03 am - Lottery News

N.C. Gov. says lottery ads are 'annoying'News Story
State legislators are proposing to revamp the way money from the North Carolina Education Lottery is spent after statewide scrutiny of its advertising practices. Gov. Pat McCrory suggested in his State of the State address last week that lottery money should be allocated to fund more technology in schools. I'm recommending that we pursue legislation to reallocate a portion of money away from the bloated and frankly annoying advertising and the large administration cost of the lottery comm
Feb 27, 2013, 10:49 am - Lottery News

Arkansas Lottery paid out $1 billion in prizes in 3 yearsNews Story
The Arkansas Scholarship Lottery today announced that total prizes awarded to players in Arkansas have exceeded the astonishing $1 billion mark early Monday. As of Tuesday morning, the prize total was calculated at exactly $1,001,373,313. The Arkansas Lottery has been selling tickets for only three years and five months since September 28, 2009. Lottery Director Bishop Woosley said the Lottery has produced just over $321 million for the Education Trust Fund to finance 94,000 Arkansas Ac
Feb 19, 2013, 2:32 pm - Lottery News

Ex-Georgia Lottery president got big bonusesNews Story
A state law designed to curb bonuses to Georgia Lottery executives didn't stop the organization from handing out huge incentive payouts and raises to top staffers. The lottery funds the HOPE scholarship and pre-kindergarten classes, but ticket sales have struggled to keep up with growth in the programs. When lawmakers approved legislation in 2011 to prevent the programs from going broke, part of the deal was a severe curtailing of lottery staff bonuses. But more than $260,000 worth of ince
Jan 27, 2013, 5:29 pm - Lottery News

Illinois Lottery superintendent at odds with private manager of lotteryNews Story
Illinois Lottery superintendent Michael Jones and the Northstar Lottery Group are at odds. Northstar is the private management consortium named in the fall of 2010 to run the Illinois Lottery. The source of the disagreement is a preliminary draft of a ruling this week from a mediator assigned to determine whether Northstar should have to pay a penalty for failing to meet stipulated profit goals in its private management agreement with the state. By its own accounting Northstar, comprised o
Sep 14, 2012, 8:09 am - Lottery News

Report: Ill. lottery manager short $100M on profitNews Story
The Illinois Lottery's private manager fell nearly $100 million short of the profits it promised to deliver for the state. But the Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday that revenues generated by Northstar Lottery Group still set an Illinois record. Illinois has fallen behind other state lotteries for years. Northstar promised $825 million in net revenue when it took over the lottery in July 2011. A Tribune analysis found it had collected $726 million by the end of June. That could mean hund
Aug 2, 2012, 9:34 am - Lottery News