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Minnesota Lottery moves to boost integrityNews Story
Legislation designed to increase accountability at the Minnesota Lottery moved forward Wednesday, while fallout from the lottery's troubles continued.A Senate committee passed a bill that would have the state lottery director serve at the pleasure of the governor, which means he or she can be removed for no reason. Current law requires the governor to show misconduct before firing the director.Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, introduced the bill this year after reports the lottery director may have
Mar 4, 2004, 4:24 am - Lottery News

Minnesota Lottery Cancels $1.3 Million in Contracts with Media RareNews Story
The Minnesota Lottery says it's canceled promotional contracts worth $1.3 million a year with Media Rare.That's the St. Paul company that auditors said received special treatment under former lottery director George Andersen.A lawyer for the lottery says the contract cancellations will be effective April 27. The contracts were for promotional TV and radio shows.The lottery also is considering canceling an additional promotional agreement with the company involving a special vehicle. Already, the
Mar 3, 2004, 4:05 am - Lottery News

Lottery player comes up a loser in supreme courtNews Story
A lottery player whose interpretation of the term wild card gave rise to his claim that he had a $20,000 winning ticket got little sympathy in Maine's highest court.The Supreme Judicial Court on Wednesday denied Larry Moody's appeal, saying his interpretation would make every Wild Card Cash ticket a winner.Moody claimed the prize in the instant lottery game, even though none of the six scratch boxes showed a hand with a winning pair. When he scratched a separate box labeled wild card, the fi
Feb 27, 2004, 4:19 am - Lottery News

GTECH says not linked to scandal in BrazilNews Story
A fired government aide met with executives from GTECH's Brazilian unit but was not involved in negotiations West Greenwich, Rhode Island-based GTECH Holdings Corp., the world's biggest supplier of online lottery systems, said yesterday a Brazilian government aide who was fired amid a probe of campaign finance allegations wasn't involved in extending the company's contract in the country.Waldomiro Diniz met with two executives from the company's Brazilian unit last year to discuss a contract dis
Feb 25, 2004, 4:33 am - Lottery News

$222M Mega Millions lottery jackpot has Jerseyans dreamingNews Story
A surge of ticket buying has swelled the jackpot in the multistate Mega Millions lottery game to at least $222 million -- a figure that could go even higher before Friday night's drawing.That had lottery players -- the regulars and those who jump in only when jackpots border on the obscene -- trying to comprehend nearly unfathomable riches in the third-largest jackpot ever offered in New Jersey. If I won, my wife would have my face on the side of milk cartons, 'cause I'd be missing, said Jim Mc
Feb 20, 2004, 7:18 am - Lottery News

Minnesota Lottery audit finds high costs, no crimeNews Story
The Minnesota State Lottery spends more money and provides less to the state than comparable lotteries and should revisit its ties to the St. Paul-based marketing company Media Rare Inc., auditors reported Thursday.Legislative Auditor James Nobles released the audit of the lottery about three weeks after former Lottery Director George Andersen died, apparently by suicide. Andersen had met with auditors about the review the day before he was found dead. We found many things to question and critic
Feb 20, 2004, 6:36 am - Lottery News

Wyoming Takes Step Towards Instituting LotteryNews Story
In a narrow vote, Wyoming lawmakers chose to support a bill that would allow the state to get into the lottery game.The House Revenue Committee voted 5-4 to pass House Bill 20 to the full House for debate. This is not about gambling in the state of Wyoming, said Rep. Dave Edwards, R-Douglas. We already have gambling. It's here, it's on the Internet. Edwards passed out a piece of paper containing six different ads promoting raffles from just one weekend edition of a Wyoming newspaper. Taking pa
Feb 19, 2004, 7:35 am - Lottery News

Head of Nebraska Lottery Resigns After Inquiry Clears HimNews Story
The head of the Nebraska lottery resigned Wednesday, a week after an investigation cleared him of wrongdoing for taking his wife on a trip to Greece that was paid for by a lottery vendor. Looking at this from a professional perspective, I determined that it is probably time for me to move on, James Quinn said in a statement.Quinn and his wife, Kathy, traveled to Greece in September to inspect Intralot USA's operations after the Duluth, Ga., company won a contract to operate the Nebraska lottery
Feb 19, 2004, 7:06 am - Lottery News

Extensive Minnesota lottery probe underwayNews Story
Minnesota gambling enforcement agents have begun a sweeping investigation into the Minnesota State Lottery that likely will involve inspecting hundreds of contracts with vendors for any improprieties. It is expected to take months to complete. As far as I'm concerned, there are no boundaries, said Norm Pint, special agent in charge of the gambling enforcement division of the Department of Public Safety, which is conducting the probe.Pint said Wednesday that the investigation was prompted by the
Feb 19, 2004, 6:58 am - Lottery News

Minnesota Lottery to cut ties with bass eventNews Story
The Minnesota State Lottery will not sponsor any fishing tournaments this year, Gov. Tim Pawlenty's chief of staff said Thursday.Dan McElroy said interim lottery director Michael Vekich plans to drop the Minnesota Pro/Am Bass Tour promotion. The lottery spent at least $65,000 a year over the past four summers to sponsor the fishing tournaments and solicited money from other sponsors on its behalf, according to lottery records.Former lottery director George Andersen, who killed himself last month
Feb 13, 2004, 7:21 am - Lottery News