Search

GTECH scrutinized in bid for Tennessee lottery contractsNews Story
GTECH Corp., the lottery giant bidding for Tennessee contracts, has been praised for quick startups and leading technology.But the company has also been criticized for aggressive lobbying and a series of missteps in the 1990s that led to the criminal conviction of one employee and culminated in an overhaul of top managers three years ago. I don't think their past record should reflect adversely on ... the present company, although it does require someone to look at them with a little more due di
Nov 20, 2003, 7:00 am - Lottery News

Lottery may make early contract picksNews Story
The Tennessee lottery board is still on track with the Nov. 24 deadline to decide on contracts for gaming vendors.Board members will determine Thursday whether they will hold a telephone conference Friday to make an early decision on the contracts, which would give gaming vendors two more days laying the infrastructure for ticket sales.Wanda Young Wilson, senior vice president for corporate affairs, said that at this stage every day counts.The goal is to start the lottery by Feb. 10. The Tenness
Nov 18, 2003, 5:03 am - Lottery News

Lottery-ticket company wooing TennesseeNews Story
Already the country's leading supplier of instant lottery tickets, Scientific Games International is now moving into online gaming and hopes to make Tennessee its newest customer.The Alpharetta, Ga.-based company is one of the companies competing for both the instant and online contracts for the new Tennessee games. Lottery giant GTECH Corp. of Rhode Island is also in the bidding.Scientific Games provides in-stant tickets for two-thirds of state lotteries and more than 50 other countries, and op
Nov 17, 2003, 4:33 am - Lottery News

Legislators mulling changes to lottery lawNews Story
Plans to amend Tennessee's lottery law are already in the works, less than six months after the Legislature authorized the games.Rep. Chris Newton, R-Benton, who sponsored the lottery legislation in the House last session, has filed a bill that would lower - to a 19 on the ACT college entrance exam, instead of the current 23 - home-schooled students' eligibility requirements for lottery-funded scholarships.The legislation will be considered when the General Assembly returns to session in January
Nov 11, 2003, 4:33 am - Lottery News

State to display odds of winningNews Story
When Tennesseans start playing the lottery next year, they'll know something dreamers in many other states don't: the odds of winning.State law doesn't require the odds to be advertised, but Tennessee lottery chief Rebecca Paul believes it's good business to do so. Every place I've ever been has prominently displayed it in brochures, at point of sale, where people get their play slips, where they fill them out, Paul said. It's important to have it there and ready and available for anybody who
Nov 10, 2003, 4:51 am - Lottery News

Paul's pay checkedNews Story
With much still to do, lottery organizer faces criticism over salariesWith Tennessee's new lottery set to begin in just three months, Rebecca Paul has a lot to do and little time to do it.Paul and her senior staff must hire contractors, test software, rent offices, hire hundreds of people, train retailers and build a computer network. And those are just the highlights.To get everything done by Feb. 10, Paul works from 9 a.m. to midnight nearly every day - a schedule that hasn't left time for cul
Nov 10, 2003, 4:48 am - Lottery News

Cohen says Tenn. lottery tickets will be on sale by Jan. 27News Story
The Tennessee Legislature's leading lottery advocate predicted Thursday that Tennessee will be selling lottery tickets by Jan. 27 and said the startup date could have been Jan. 1.Sen. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, said the state lottery board had dramatically underestimated the skill and speed of lottery CEO Rebecca Paul when it set Feb. 10 as the target startup date. He described Paul as a workaholic working 24/7 with the best lottery team ever assembled. Feb. 10 is the first deadline Paul, former G
Nov 7, 2003, 4:37 am - Lottery News

Tenn. lottery chief outlines goals during Pinnacle forumNews Story
During a Pinnacle Financial Partners forum Nov. 4, Rebecca Paul, CEO of the Tennessee Education Lottery Corp., revealed some of the pressure she has been under to get the lottery up and running by February. I've been on the job now a total of 43 days, she said. It seems like 43 years. For the next three months, she and her staff expect to be working 16 hours per day, until the first lottery ticket is sold.Paul said there are three things the lottery must do extraordinarily well. One is to know
Nov 6, 2003, 4:51 am - Lottery News

Paul says to expect multistate lotto games by summerNews Story
Tennesseans hoping to try their luck at big multistate lottery games like Mega Millions or Powerball likely will get their wish by next summer, lottery chief Rebecca Paul said Tuesday.But before that can happen, the Tennessee lottery must first get the basics up and running -- including its own instant ticket and online gaming systems, Paul said in an interview with The Associated Press.Lottery officials have set a Feb. 10 start date for selling instant tickets -- a very, very aggressive schedu
Nov 5, 2003, 5:50 am - Lottery News

S.C. makes bid to help Tenn. lotteryNews Story
The South Carolina lottery, much like its neighbor in Georgia, has pitched the idea of helping out with the Tennessee lottery startup.Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation (TELC) President Rebecca Paul was lured away from the successful Georgia Lottery Corporation in early September. The week before, the upstart lottery board here voted against the notion of a partnership with Paul and Georgia.South Carolina lottery officials were openly critical of the potential Georgia-Tennessee partnership
Nov 5, 2003, 5:31 am - Lottery News