Search

Papers provide details on N.C. Lottery lobbyNews Story
Meredith Norris, former top political aide to North Carolina House Speaker Jim Black, urged him to call Gov. Mike Easley and push for a lottery-legislation change suggested by a lottery company executive during last year's General Assembly session, documents released Thursday show.Black said he never made the call. Months later, state officials began investigating Norris, the executive and the company, Scientific Games, for possible lobbying law violations.The documents were among 2,100 pages Bl
Jan 20, 2006, 8:27 am - Lottery News

N.C. House Speaker under investigation in lottery probeNews Story
House Speaker and Top Aide Under Investigation for Possible Corruption in Measure's PassageWhen North Carolina's legislature relented from its decades-long opposition to a state lottery this summer, preachers and conservative lawmakers warned that wherever gambling goes, scandal follows.Even they never predicted it would arrive so fast.North Carolina, which until now was one of the few states without a lottery, will not begin its games until spring, but already state and federal criminal investi
Dec 30, 2005, 11:50 pm - Lottery News

Wyoming voters to have no say on PowerballNews Story
Voters won't be given a say next year on whether Wyoming should join the multi-state Powerball lottery.The Joint Travel Committee voted 8-4 Thursday against sponsoring a bill that would have put a nonbinding referendum on the 2006 ballot.Opponents were reluctant to endorse a public vote that ultimately doesn't force any legislative action.Rep. Kermit Brown, R-Laramie, said the issue of establishing a lottery should be decided by lawmakers, not in a nonbinding vote by the electorate. It's a cop-o
Dec 16, 2005, 10:57 am - Lottery News

Oklahoma lottery winnings can be garnishedNews Story
Oklahoma lottery winnings can be garnished from people owing delinquent child support, a state commission has decided.The Oklahoma Commission for Human Services approved a rule Tuesday in support of the Department of Human Services, which is also talking with horse racetracks and American Indian casinos to institute a system of cross-checking winners for unpaid debts to the state, said Gary Dart, director of DHS's child support enforcement division. Other states have seen success with general sp
Dec 9, 2005, 12:06 pm - Lottery News

Alabama candidates discuss lottery possibilitiesNews Story
Former Gov. Don Siegelman wants Alabama to have a lottery, just as he's argued since first running for governor in 1990, and he promises to fight for it if elected to another term in the state's top job.Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley says she's not necessarily against a the idea but told the Mobile Register she would neither push for a lottery herself nor block another public referendum on someone else's proposal.Baxley said it would be a shame for Alabama to depend on a lottery for revenue but added th
Nov 28, 2005, 10:06 am - Lottery News

Court may shut down Mega Millions in CaliforniaNews Story
California Democrats may yet 'reap what they sow', as they started the effort to shut down Mega Millions soon after it started.Mega Millions, the multistate lotto game California joined in June, could be shut down Friday if the Schwarzenegger administration loses its battle to keep the game running.The state-run lottery and an anti-gambling group are set to argue in Sacramento court whether to halt the game as a judge weighs claims by the group and Democratic legislators that voters permitted a
Nov 28, 2005, 6:43 am - Lottery News

Questions rise about N.C. lottery accessNews Story
Meredith Norris, a top political aide to House Speaker Jim Black, hired two Charlotte lawyers Friday as Secretary of State Elaine Marshall investigated whether Norris lobbied on behalf of a major lottery company without being registered to do so. Ms. Norris is very confident that she has not violated any lobbying laws, Thomas Walker, one of her lawyers, said Friday.The probe advanced as Republican leaders called for an investigation by Attorney General Roy Cooper or an independent inquiry into
Oct 17, 2005, 7:09 am - Lottery News

Scientific Games wrote parts of N.C. lottery lawNews Story
A company that hopes to land the multimillion-dollar contract to run North Carolina's gambling operation used a link to House Speaker Jim Black to have the new lottery law written to its liking.Alan Middleton, vice president of Scientific Games, wrote to Black's office, saying he wanted to write a law that excluded other companies. Middleton had an inside connection to the speaker's office, according to hundreds of pages of e-mail messages, memos and other documents released by Black's office Th
Oct 14, 2005, 9:57 am - Lottery News

Anti-lottery group considers legal challenge to N.C. LotteryNews Story
There might yet be a legal fight over the new North Carolina lottery.A spokesman for Citizens United Against the Lottery, a coalition formed to fight its creation, said Monday that the group is weighing a lawsuit challenging how the lottery was approved. It's in distinct consideration, said Bob Rosser, a spokesman for the group, whose board includes former legislator Chuck Neely, former UNC system presidents Bill Friday and C.D. Spangler Jr., and Capitol Broadcasting Co. chief Jim Goodmon. We
Sep 20, 2005, 8:50 pm - Lottery News

N.C. Lottery will be Easley's legacyNews Story
Gov. Mike Easley was just leaving the old House chamber in the state Capitol after signing the state lottery into law.Will the game be his legacy? I'm not much into legacies, Easley, a Democrat, replied. I don't want to be the 'lottery governor.' It might be a bit late for that.More than any other of the dozens of politicians who crammed into the House chamber, Easley has beat the drum for a state lottery.Easley campaigned on the issue during both of his successful runs for governor, the late
Sep 1, 2005, 5:18 pm - Lottery News