Mississippi hires experienced executive for its new lottery

May 8, 2019, 10:26 am (15 comments)

Mississippi Lottery

JACKSON, Miss. — The Mississippi Lottery Corporation announced Wednesday that it is hiring an experienced executive as its first president.

Thomas N. Shaheen, 66, begins June 1 and will oversee operations as Mississippi prepares to join most other states in offering scratch-off tickets and other game of chance.

In an interview on Tuesday in Jackson, Shaheen said Mississippi could start selling lottery tickets by the end of this year.

"We'll work at a pace to get it started off as quickly as possible because the sooner we get started, the more money that is for roads and bridges," he said.

Mississippi had been one of six states without a lottery, and churches were longtime opponents of creating one. But as the state faced increasing problems with crumbling highways and bridges, lawmakers met in special session in August and voted to start a lottery to generate money for transportation.

Shaheen was among about 20 applicants for the Mississippi job and was one of three finalists interviewed. All five board members agreed to hire him and Gov. Phil Bryant approved the selection, board chairman Mike McGrevey said.

Shaheen has most recently worked as vice president and chief policy officer of a lottery technology company, Linq3. He was executive director the North Carolina Education Lottery from 2005 to 2010, and before that was chief executive officer of the New Mexico Lottery. He also worked for lotteries in Georgia, Texas and Florida as they were starting.

He is a former president of the Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs Powerball.

Shaheen will move from Arizona to Mississippi for the job that has a base salary of $225,000 a year. The board said he also will be eligible for performance incentives.

Shaheen said he expects about 1,500 Mississippi convenience stores, grocery stores and drug stores to apply to sell lottery tickets. They will undergo background checks that include an examination of their finances.

Mississippi will have to apply to become part of multi-state games, and Shaheen said that process could happen next year.

The Mississippi Lottery will hire its own employees, including those to work on technology and financial matters. It also will set contracts to produce items such as scratch-off tickets.

"The quicker we get those vendors on board, the quicker we can get sales started," Shaheen said.

AP

Comments

Bleudog101

A positive step forward.

 

Alabama, though your lottery may up for vote---pay attention!

cottoneyedjoe's avatarcottoneyedjoe

I wonder if they will go with balls or computer PRNGs.

Bleudog101

If they use Cash 4 Life, Lucky 4 Life, Powerball or Megamillions they are all ball games so they don't get a choice for those four wonderful lotteries!

Stack47

Quote: Originally posted by cottoneyedjoe on May 8, 2019

I wonder if they will go with balls or computer PRNGs.

Good question, but some new lotteries joined multi-state games without offering any "state only" games. They might not even start out with pick-3 or pick-4 games. 

The worst for any new lottery would be to have a "fortune cookie" incident and be out $millions a week after they start selling tickets.

noise-gate

Shaheen’s resume for experience is impressive, what l wonder is how “ successful “ was he in those positions he formerly held. He sure moved around a lot didn’t he? 

music*'s avatarmusic*

Quote: Originally posted by Stack47 on May 8, 2019

Good question, but some new lotteries joined multi-state games without offering any "state only" games. They might not even start out with pick-3 or pick-4 games. 

The worst for any new lottery would be to have a "fortune cookie" incident and be out $millions a week after they start selling tickets.

  Green laughA "fortune cookie" incident. Where 110 players played the same numbers that were inside their fortune cookies. At first the Lottery Organization suspected fraud but the investigator found the truth. A very rare event. 

 I would think that insurance may be purchased before any game is played. 

cottoneyedjoe's avatarcottoneyedjoe

Quote: Originally posted by Bleudog101 on May 8, 2019

If they use Cash 4 Life, Lucky 4 Life, Powerball or Megamillions they are all ball games so they don't get a choice for those four wonderful lotteries!

Good point. I should have clarified to say in-state games. They'll probably offer Pick 3, Pick 4 and something like a 5/39 game along with the multi-state games. I can see them going either way with balls vs PRNGs. Ball drawing equipment and live televised drawings are more expensive and labor-intensive, but televised drawings are good advertising and there's less risk of a fiasco like in NM, where the pick 4 could only pick singles. But computer PRNGs are cheaper and quicker to get up and running. I hope they go with balls.

Big Joey

 I hope they use ball drawings for state based games. To make things different from the Louisiana Lottery.

Bleudog101

Quote: Originally posted by Big Joey on May 8, 2019

 I hope they use ball drawings for state based games. To make things different from the Louisiana Lottery.

Grumpy grouper (me) would cross the river to rarely play Hoosier lotto.  It is up to $36 million now.  Stopped playing when I read about it being an RNG game.

Big Joey

RNG drawings benefits the state, swirling ball drawings benefits the player. I have seen this over, & over again. The difference is clear between, RNG, & Balls.

partlycloudy07

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on May 8, 2019

Shaheen’s resume for experience is impressive, what l wonder is how “ successful “ was he in those positions he formerly held. He sure moved around a lot didn’t he? 

I Agree! he is what we call a "job hopper" pretty soon "ole miss" will be living the dream

Artist77's avatarArtist77

It is fairly common for mid and high level executives to move around. It looked like he was broadening his experience each time. Some expect to move around every 2-3 years. You can typically command a higher salary with his varied list of jobs. The moves were lateral or higher up. I do not see anything unusual.

Hermanus104's avatarHermanus104

They'll probably start with just Powerball and Mega Millions, but I think they'll add 3-ball, 4-ball, and a 5/39 game. Given the tendency of surrounding states, I think Mississippi will use RNGs--and I hope I am wrong about that--for daily 3-ball and 4-ball games that will expand to 13 drawings per week by 2026 and a nightly 5/39-type game.

Stack47

Not knocking seniors, but he is 66 and it's not like there are many others with similar experience.

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