Arkansas Blog: Lottery news

The lottery commission is working on vendor business and also talking about opening two regional offices. If office locations follow personnel decisions, you'd have to guess Bigelow and Conway. Snark.

Capsearch is Twittering if you want to keep up.

Posts include comment from lottery director Ernie Passailaigue that "security, sales , advertising, hr, banking & licensure, controller and it directors will all be Arkansans."

And people with connections to key legislators, if not former employees, as were the first couple hired.

NOTE: Gerard Matthews has a story in this week's print edition on lottery jobs. They pay better than other comparable state jobs. But Ernie P. promises they'll be working harder than slacker state employees. Just drop by the lottery office on Labor Day or Thanksgiving and see if they aren't working.

And don't miss Ernest Dumas' lottery column. Did you know Ernie P. sought -- and didn't get -- a job in North Carolina that paid $100,000 less than our job? Did you know there was a controversy involving lottery vendor contracts in South Carolina and connections to political fund-raising. Check it out. Thank goodness there's no politics involved in operation of the Arkansas lottery.

Comments

I cannot see why such a small state needs regional offices.
For the net of about $560,000 on a million dollar ticket
I would drive to L.R. or fly when that's possible. Most would.

But wait. It's those smaller winners. Like the $378 I once won up
in Big Mo. Wait. That was paid by the retailer in Anderson.

Those $600 winning tickets? Send a photo ID and copy of S.S.# with your ticket
and get it redeemed.

Game supplies? Overnight from L.R to any location in Ark.

Boost the presence of the Ark Scholarship Lottery? That it?
What's the TV-Mag-Newspaper campaign all about?

Ah. Bureaucracies. The world's second oldest profession and very much like the oldest.

Posted by: eLwood | July 8, 2009 02:52 PM

Also hired the House of Representative's attorney. She got some play in an Ark Times feature 2 years ago.

Posted by: Well | July 8, 2009 03:37 PM

Didn't Ernie just last week attempt to justify the $250k salary for the two VP positions by saying there would be a consolidation of duties, specificially that one of the South Carolinians he had in mind was also an attorney, so there would be no need to hire a staff attorney? And so now they've hired a staff attorney...so what happened to that plan?

And while I do agree that many of the key staff positions would best be filled by people with lottery experience, why does it seem to be that only South Carolina lottery experience is a must? There ARE other states with lotteries and, presumably, employees and former employees with lottery experience...just saying.

Posted by: the_floyd | July 8, 2009 04:01 PM

The attorney they hired also worked for Thornton for a couple of years. Go figure!

Posted by: Arky | July 8, 2009 05:00 PM

Outside of the South Carolina carpetbaggers, the first two lottery hires have resumes that include time working for Ray Thornton and Bob Johnson. Imagine that! You would think the non Johnson appointees on the commission would see what is happening and scream. Good ol' boy patronage is alive and well. Huey P would be proud.

Posted by: killingmesoftly | July 8, 2009 09:16 PM

This is my first post and the state's gambler in chief drove me to it. Is he serious? Does he really think that the lottery commission will be the only state agency working on holidays? He might want to visit with the officers at the State Police, Department of Correction, Game and Fish, Parks, DYS and Community Correction. And by the way, they will be working on Christmas too. The lottery folks are spending 105K on a PR person and this is the best they can do? Give me a break.

Posted by: insidelane | July 9, 2009 05:34 PM

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