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Travel by Missouri Lottery employees under scrutinyNews Story
Nine Missouri Lottery employees took a state-paid trip to Orlando, Fla., in July 2012 to attend a professional development seminar. It wasn't the only time lottery employees traveled to the Sunshine State. During the last three years, officials have logged a total of 20 trips to central Florida. Other popular destinations included New York, San Diego, Chicago, Washington, Atlanta, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Providence, R.I. The out-of-state travel which has cost the lottery $129,881 and a
Sep 2, 2014, 8:48 am - Lottery News

With Northstar terminated, what will the Illinois Lottery do now?News Story
So what's next for the Illinois Lottery? That's the big question looming in the wake of Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn's politically-expedient move late last week to fire Northstar Lottery Group. Quinn made history late in 2010 when he inked a 10-year contract with Northstar to become the first-ever private manager of any state lottery in the nation. Two other states now have private lottery managers Indiana and New Jersey. Quinn's move last week to terminate Northstar may prove too little too la
Aug 23, 2014, 10:27 pm - Lottery News

Illinois to fire private lottery operatorNews Story
The bumpy marriage between the state and the private company that operates the Illinois Lottery is ending in a divorce. Gov. Pat Quinn's office confirmed to me today that it is ending its contract with Northstar Lottery Group LLC to operate the $2 billion-a-year lottery system, seven years earlier than scheduled. It is not yet certain whether the separation will be voluntary by both parties, but a decision to end the contract has been made. The governor's office has directed the lotter
Aug 23, 2014, 10:20 pm - Lottery News

Indecision at the Illinois Lottery over new national gameNews Story
The Illinois Department of Lottery is working to decide whether it wants to take a chance on a new Monopoly game that will be rolled out in October across the United States. The decision-making process is hurting the profitability of the Illinois Lottery, according the private company that manages it. Northstar Lottery Group, which was awarded a 10-year contract to manage the Illinois Lottery in 2010, is pushing for the state to include a new, national $5 Monopoly game. Northstar CEO
Jul 29, 2014, 7:06 am - Lottery News

Jury rules that estranged brothers must split $1M lottery prizeNews Story
Over a year of legal bickering ended Wednesday afternoon, but it appeared neither brother feuding over a jackpot lottery ticket was ready to move on and sing Kumbaya together. After a two-day trial in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, court, a jury decided two Mechanicsburg-area brothers, Charles Thomas Meehan and Ira Sharp, would split a $1 million lottery ticket straight down the middle. Sharp sued Meehan, his half-brother, for half of the prize he said they won together at Johnny Joe's b
Jul 16, 2014, 5:34 pm - Lottery News

Judge rules boss must give waiter half of $1.7M lottery jackpot for predicting winNews Story
A restaurant boss in England was ordered yesterday to split a disputed 1 million (US$1.7 million) lottery payout with one of his waiters who claimed he dreamed they would win a fortune together. Judge Mark Gosnell told Hayati Kucukkoylu he must hand 500,000 of the EuroMillions prize to Fatih Ozcan. The High Court heard Ozcan was so convinced they would win he pestered Kucukkoylu into buying tickets with him, sharing the stake and jointly choosing the lottery numbers. But when the waiter
Jul 15, 2014, 9:29 pm - Lottery News

NJ court rules against union's effort to stop state lottery privatizationNews Story
A state appeals court last week ruled against a public workers union in its effort to stop New Jersey from privatizing parts of the state lottery. Despite months of objections from Democratic lawmakers and union leaders, the state announced last June that it signed a 15-year contract for a private company, Northstar New Jersey, to manage the sales and marketing branches of the lottery. Gov. Chris Christie's administration said the move will bring New Jersey a surge in revenue. But the Comm
Jul 8, 2014, 7:27 am - Lottery News

Minnesota Gov. vetoes bill to limit online lottery salesNews Story
Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton vetoed a bill Friday that would have done away with online instant-play lottery games and barred sales of tickets via gas pumps or ATMs. His decision ends suspense over a bill that passed with big bipartisan majorities on the final day of the legislative session. The Democratic governor confessed to being torn over the strong message sent by lawmakers and his fear that the legislation was partly motivated by other gambling interests looking to protect their turf
Jun 1, 2014, 8:49 am - Lottery News

Printing error causes new Pa. Lottery ticket coupons to be issuedNews Story
Pennsylvania Lottery players who tried to use some of the lottery's coupons that arrived in the mail or in the newspaper in late April or earlier this month learned that they were about as good as a losing lottery ticket. That's because of a printing error in the coupons' bar code that makes them unreadable to retailers' lottery terminals, said Elizabeth Brassell, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Revenue, which oversees the lottery. New coupons are being reprinted and will start a
May 19, 2014, 2:17 pm - Lottery News

Illinois legislator urges Gov. to fire company running the lotteryNews Story
Northstar disagrees, says revenue targets met Citing nearly three years of lackluster performance, an Illinois state lawmaker is urging Governor Pat Quinn to fire the company his administration hired to run the Illinois Lottery. State Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, said the state's contract with Northstar Lottery Group has cost taxpayers hundreds of millions in lost revenues due to the firm's failure to meet revenue goals. The privatization of the Illinois State Lottery has been nothing
May 15, 2014, 12:13 pm - Lottery News