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Lottery giant IGT is sole bidder to run sports betting in R.I.News Story
IGT, the company that runs Rhode Island's electronic lottery systems, is the sole bidder for a contract to run the state's proposed foray into sports betting. The Lottery issued a request for proposals on the sports betting contract last month and although 18 firms participated in a pre-bid conference on the contract, the Providence-based company formerly known as GTECH was the only one to submit a bid by last Friday's deadline, the R.I. Lottery announced Monday. We would have preferred m
May 22, 2018, 8:39 am - Todd - Lottery News

Mississippi lottery committee plans final meetingNews Story
What is expected to be the final meeting of House Speaker Philip Gunn's lottery study committee is scheduled for Nov. 16 at the Mississippi Capitol. Gunn formed the study committee in April in response to efforts in the House to pass lottery legislation. After the November meeting, the plan is for legislative staff to compile the information garnered by the nine-member committee into a report to be presented to the Mississippi House before the 2018 session starts in January. The study comm
Oct 29, 2017, 9:26 am - Todd - Lottery News

N.Y. man's lottery fortune hurts home town state aidNews Story
Good fortune smiled on Richard Loveless in 2015, when the retired electrician won a $42.5 million lottery prize, but those winnings are bringing headaches to the Port Byron School District. Loveless' winnings pushed up the school district's total wealth, as calculated by the state's school aid formulas. It bumped Port Byron from being one of New York's poorest school districts to one that's almost middle class, said Neil O'Brien, Port Byron's superintendent. I'm thrilled he won. I play th
Jul 18, 2017, 10:45 am - Todd - Lottery News

Lottery vending machines in Kansas may depend on whether lawmakers show up MondayNews Story
Your ability to buy lottery tickets from vending machines in Kansas may depend on how many lawmakers show up for the ceremonial last day of the session Monday. A bill allowing the Kansas Lottery to use vending machines to sell tickets was vetoed by Gov. Sam Brownback last week. The Legislature approved House Bill 2313 earlier this month with margins far greater than the two-thirds needed to override the veto. The House passed the bill 98-19; the Senate passed it 34-4. But because the fi
Jun 22, 2017, 5:47 pm - Todd - Lottery News

Vermont paying $8,000 per month on unused lottery machinesNews Story
Since last June, 25 lottery machines leased by the state of Vermont have gathered cobwebs in storage unplugged and unused at a cost of $8,000 a month. That means the state has paid $72,000 in fees for nothing. And the tab is still mounting. Neither the governor nor legislators were happy to hear about the losing proposition. I don't like that we're wasting money and having these machines sit idly, Gov. Phil Scott said Tuesday. His staff learned about the situation in February while workin
Apr 27, 2017, 2:37 pm - Todd - Lottery News

Pennsylvania eyes leap to internet for casinos, lotteryNews Story
Facing huge deficits, Pennsylvania could become the first state to allow both its casinos and lottery to take its games online in a quest for money from new and younger players. The state government has a slew of fiscal challenges, made worse by sluggish tax collections and one of the nation's oldest average populations. A Republican-controlled Legislature trying to avoid a broad tax increase under Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has instead turned over other rocks in search of alternatives. Ther
Apr 24, 2017, 9:15 am - Todd - Lottery News

Chicago mayor toyed with idea of city-only lotteryNews Story
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has toyed with the concept of establishing a city lottery to help ease the city's financial woes and, while the idea has not progressed, it could get backing from at least one key Democrat in Springfield. That's one of the better nuggets buried in the trove of private emails that Emanuel was forced to release just before Christmas under pressure from a Better Government Association lawsuit. The May 5, 2015, email came from former Illinois Lottery Director Michael
Dec 28, 2016, 11:49 am - Todd - Lottery News

Alabama lottery bill faces battle in HouseNews Story
Senators thought the lottery proposal they approved Friday directed 10 percent of the revenue toward Alabama's education budget, but it doesn't. An amendment was added earlier Friday to Senate Bill 3 to give the education budget a slice of the lottery money. But a subsequent amendment to send the first $100 million in revenue to the state Medicaid agency, deleted the education allocation. Whether that amendment will get back into the bill is now unknown. I'm going to talk to the House
Aug 21, 2016, 8:03 am - Todd - Lottery News

Massachusetts Senate weighing plan to give Lottery 'broad mandate' for online gamesNews Story
If the Massachusetts State Lottery is to continue to thrive and return hundreds of millions of dollars to cities and towns, it must have the ability to move online in some fashion, its executive director said, but it first needs permission from the Legislature to test the World Wide Web's waters. It's critical to the Lottery's future ability to produce revenue that we're allowed to engage clearly changing technology and, to me, what is a very strong change in the commerce pattern that consum
May 25, 2016, 12:25 pm - Todd - Lottery News

Alabama Legislature seems unlikely to approve lotteryNews Story
Like buying a Powerball ticket, establishing an Alabama lottery seems more likely to end in grief than gain. Efforts to create a statewide lottery appear to be dead in the current session, despite a Senate committee's approval Thursday of an amendment that would put the question before voters. Procedural rules in the Legislature's final days are likely to make its passage much more difficult, and House version of the bill appears stalled. But the Senate's sponsor and other legislators say
Apr 23, 2016, 8:16 am - Todd - Lottery News