The new Arkansas Lottery Commission has been in operation for a little more than a week, and on Monday its own Web site will go live.

The URL for the new, not-yet live site is: www.LotteryCommission.Arkansas.gov.

At publication time, entering that address into one's Web browser displays an "under construction" message.

In addition, the commission will soon decide the name for the official state lottery Web site for the Arkansas lottery games.

The commission is holding a two-day working retreat at the University of Arkansas' Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain scheduled to conclude today. Joining them are the heads of the Georgia and South Carolina state lotteries, each of whom helped implement successful lottery launches in their respective states. They were invited by commission members to share their combined expertise in getting a lottery up and running.

Lottery Commission chairman Ray Thornton believes the lottery could be operating in Arkansas by the end of the year.

South Carolina lottery chief Ernie Passailaigue told commission members on Thursday that sales forecast estimates had Arkansas clearing $125 in net profit from the lottery in its first year. Joining him at the retreat is Georgia lottery head Margaret DeFrancisco.

On Friday, the commission discussed how to go about hiring an executive director, who in turn will be charged with filling out the remainder of the lottery staff. The commission, however, will also hire a staff auditor.

[Editor: Hopefully they are also discussing how important it is to stay away from computerized drawings, in order to protect the integrity of the games, as well as instilling trust and confidence in the results throughout the player base.]

The commission was created by legislation passed in the recently concluded General Assembly. Voters in November approved the creation of a state lottery, proceeds from which will fund college scholarships.