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Odds of a Mississippi Lottery still long, but may be improvingNews Story
Democratic Rep. Alyce Clarke, who has represented Jackson in the Mississippi Legislature since 1985, is persistent. She has been an author of legislation to create a lottery in Mississippi every session since 2003. This year, as often is the case, she has two bills filed, one to create a lottery after a statewide vote and another to simply enact the lottery after the passage of her legislation. Clarke believes lottery revenue could be used to fund a college scholarship program as it is in
Jan 8, 2017, 1:45 pm - Lottery News

Mississippi voters approved a lottery 24 years ago, so where is it?News Story
Every time a Powerball jackpot grows to life-altering levels, Mississippians pour across the state line to buy tickets. Americans spent $73 billion on lottery tickets last year, according to the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries. Mississippi voters approved a state lottery back in 1992, but the Legislature never followed up and has voted down all of the dozens of bills introduced to legalize the lottery. In the last session, Rep. Richard Bennett, R-Long Beach, sp
Oct 9, 2016, 8:05 am - Lottery News

Mississippi lottery talk likely to coalesce odd coalitionNews Story
Analysis: Natural foes to reunite yet again in opposition to lottery efforts Nothing puts preachers and their flocks in political cahoots with the state's casino gaming industry barons faster than any serious talk of Mississippi authorizing a state lottery. Fellow scribe Geoff Pender told us last week in a story about the possible prospects of Mississippi adopting a state lottery that Gov. Phil Bryant is open to a discussion of a state lottery. The exact quote Pender attributed to Bryan
Oct 6, 2016, 11:11 am - Lottery News

Mississippi Gov. says he's open to discussing state lotteryNews Story
Creating a lottery has been mostly just a sidebar debate in Mississippi and the Legislature for decades oft discussed, but never gonna happen. Ever since former Gov. Ray Mabus' ill-fated push for one in 1990 helped get him un-elected, any effort to create a lottery has faced a certain gubernatorial veto and was, therefore, moot. That appears to have changed. As recently as January, Gov. Phil Bryant called the idea of a lottery a silly notion, and more directly said, I am not for it.
Oct 1, 2016, 9:32 pm - Lottery News

Mississippi lawmakers take first steps to create state lotteryNews Story
It's time to give the people what they want and they want a lottery, one Mississippi lawmaker said Tuesday on the House floor. And the House signaled it is ready to give the people what they want by passing amendments on two separate bills Tuesday to have the Gaming Commission establish a lottery in the state. State Rep. Tommy Reynolds, D-Charleston, who proposed one of the successful amendments, said he would participate in a lottery said he can't see what's wrong with the state having a
Mar 30, 2016, 8:45 am - Lottery News

Powerball renews interest in Mississippi state lotteryNews Story
By all accounts, Mississippians by droves participated in the $1.6 billion Powerball lottery that was awarded this past week, but the state of Mississippi did not participate. Mississippi is one of six states that does not conduct a lottery. The others are Alabama, Nevada, Utah, Hawaii and Alaska. But, according to many people, the fact the state does not have a lottery does not mean Mississippians were not vying for the record jackpot. Supporters of the lottery say the state of Mississ
Jan 18, 2016, 9:33 am - Lottery News

Cashier sells self $1M lottery ticket in first week on jobNews Story
A Southeast Missouri woman wrapped up a big week by taking home a $1 million lottery prize during the record $600 million Powerball jackpot run. Last week, Mary Jane Hart of Doniphan not only started a new job but also played the lottery and won twice. She first got $500, and then earned one million more on Saturday. Hart works at the Hartland Pit Stop in Doniphan as a part-time cashier. She sold herself a Powerball ticket when she came into work Saturday because the jackpot had reached a
May 24, 2013, 6:52 am - Lottery News

Possibility of Mississippi lottery worries Arkansas lottery officialsNews Story
Arkansas lottery officials are keeping a nervous eye on Mississippi as that state's legislators prepare to consider creating a state lottery. Officials say they don't want to lose the revenue the lottery now receives from Mississippi residents who cross the state line to play Arkansas' lottery, especially at a time when lottery revenues are already in decline. Of the six states surrounding Arkansas, only Mississippi does not have a lottery. In 1992, a proposal to remove a lottery ban from
Dec 8, 2012, 9:52 pm - Lottery News

Mississippi Lottery Bill KilledNews Story
A proposed Mississippi state lottery is among dozens of bills that died under the first major deadline of the 2005 legislative session.House Gaming Chairman Bobby Moak, D-Bogue Chitto, said he wants to give his committee time to study the pros and cons of a state-sponsored game of chance. I don't want to trot out a product that hasn't been thought through the whole way, Moak said.Tuesday was the deadline for House and Senate committees to either pass or kill general bills filed in their own cha
Feb 2, 2005, 2:30 pm - Lottery News

Is this the year for a Mississippi lottery?News Story
With Mississippi in dire budgetary straits, some are again floating the idea of a statewide lotteryMississippi State Rep. Alyce Clarke, D-Jackson, introduced a bill last week to institute a lottery, reasoning that many of the state's residents already are buying tickets in Louisiana and Georgia - neighboring states that have lotteries - and Mississippi is losing out on that money.Keep the money in the state and help heal financial wounds at the same time. Sounds simple enough.But there's nothing
Jan 24, 2005, 10:44 pm - Lottery News