The Tennessee lottery board is still on track with the Nov. 24 deadline to decide on contracts for gaming vendors.
Board members will determine Thursday whether they will hold a telephone conference Friday to make an early decision on the contracts, which would give gaming vendors two more days laying the infrastructure for ticket sales.
Wanda Young Wilson, senior vice president for corporate affairs, said that at this stage every day counts.
The goal is to start the lottery by Feb. 10. The Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation (TELC) aims to make a minimum of $88 million in profits by July 1 to fund scholarships for 65,000 Tennessee students attending college next fall.
TELC CEO Rebecca Paul, who was at home with pneumonia, said by phone more than a dozen banks have responded to the request for proposal to do the banking services for the lottery.
TELC has received seven bids from real estate brokerage firms, and Paul said she expects a decision will be announced by mid-week. The winning brokerage firm will identify the four district office sites for the lottery. District offices are planned for Memphis, Chattanooga, Knoxville, the Tri-Cities and Nashville, which was not included in the RFP.
So far more than 1,600 retail locations have voiced interest in selling lottery tickets. The TELC has mailed out 3,600 application packages. The selection of the actual locations is a three-step process, which looks at a retailers tax standing, criminal background with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and credit checks.
TELC Spokesperson Will Pinkston said he hopes to announce the first retail locations next month.
The board also approved the extension of a contract with Public Relations firm Dye, Van Mol & Lawrence for 90 days for a total of $67,500.
Theyre actually much less expensive than I have experienced elsewhere, Paul said.
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