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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

New Tennessee Lottery hasn't hurt Kentucky ticket sales yetNews Story
The new Tennessee Lottery, for now, doesn't seem to be hurting the games in surrounding states.Kentucky and at least two other states are reporting increases in lottery sales over the period last year despite increased border competition.That may change, however, once Tennessee starts selling Powerball tickets later this year.Lotteries in Kentucky, Georgia and Virginia all have experienced higher ticket sales since Tennessee launched its lottery Jan. 20 with four scratch-off games.Although Kentu
Feb 17, 2004, 6:47 am - Lottery News

S.C. lottery to make more than expected, board saysNews Story
The South Carolina lottery should generate $80 million more than the state Board of Economic Advisors expected, and that could help buy school buses, cover scholarship programs or increase public school spending.Last year, the Board of Economic Advisors projected that the lottery would generate about $173 million during the fiscal year that ends June 30. On Thursday, the board raised that forecast to $253 million as high interest in big Powerball jackpots juiced lottery sales. It's absolutely wo
Feb 13, 2004, 7:38 am - Lottery News

Lottery director's friend also tried to commit suicide, report saysNews Story
The state's finance commissioner had been actively reviewing the management of the Minnesota State Lottery when lottery director George Andersen committed suicide.Dan McElroy, who is now Gov. Tim Pawlenty's chief of staff, had found enough lapses to warrant a sharp letter to Andersen but he told reporters Thursday he didn't discover anything that suggested Andersen had done anything criminal. He said he isn't sure whether Andersen would have lost his job over the findings. I'm not aware of any a
Feb 13, 2004, 7:31 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

Tennessee Lottery wastes $1M on needless legal activitiesNews Story
The Tennessee Lottery has incurred out-of-control legal expenses that stem from needless and insignficant legal activities, according to recent reportsThe state lottery became embroiled in more controversy yesterday with the disclosure that the Tennessee Education Lottery Corp., which oversees all lottery operations, has been billed for more than $1 million in legal fees since it began work last August.Lottery CEO Rebecca Paul told the legislature's Lottery Oversight Committee that the corporati
Feb 12, 2004, 6:54 am - Lottery News

Strongly worded letter sent to lottery director before his deathNews Story
After being directed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, the state's finance commissioner has worked with the Minnesota State Lottery since last spring to tighten operations, but enough lapses continued that a strongly worded letter was sent to lottery director George Andersen shortly before his death, the Pioneer Press reported.Andersen resisted one of the Finance Department's key recommendations and did not address another major shortcoming identified by the agency. That led, in part, to the letter by Finan
Feb 12, 2004, 6:35 am - Lottery News

Tennessee Lottery Brings In $96.5 Million In First Three WeeksNews Story
Starting the Tennessee Lottery 21 days earlier than the original Feb. 10 target date has resulted in approximately $96.5 million in ticket sales in just three weeks, which means nearly $30 million for education programs in the state to date, Lottery officials said Tuesday. This reinforces the importance of an early start-up, said Rebecca Paul, CEO and president of the Tennessee Lottery. Had we begun today, as was originally anticipated, we would be nearly $100 million behind where we currently
Feb 11, 2004, 6:10 am - Lottery News

Kentucky Lottery has record sales over six monthsNews Story
Tennessee start-up clouds forecast for full fiscal yearTwo large Powerball jackpots and some high-priced scratch-off games helped the Kentucky Lottery post record sales for the first half of the fiscal year.But a possible dip in sales because of a new lottery in Tennessee makes a full fiscal-year forecast difficult, lottery officials said.Through Dec. 31, the lottery board paid the state about $90.million in dividends, compared with about $85.million for the first six months of fiscal 2002-03.Th
Feb 3, 2004, 5:26 am - Lottery News

Oregon pays lottery sites larger share, audit findsNews Story
Leaders say the report shows retailers' portion of proceeds should be cut, but a lobbyist disagreesThe Oregon State Lottery pays retailers a bigger cut than similar operations do, a state auditors' report says, a finding that could bolster a long-standing drive to lower the compensation that bars and taverns get for carrying video poker machines.Oregon retailers receive on average 32 percent of the net proceeds from video poker -- about $159 million last fiscal year -- according to the report re
Jan 30, 2004, 6:50 am - Lottery News