AT&T sued over lottery delay in South Carolina

Amy Geier

Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2002 | 9:08 a.m.

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- While the first sales of the South Carolina Education Lottery's scratch-off tickets are just days away, the startup of the game where players pick numbers remains uncertain.

The scratch-off games are set to go on sale at 6 a.m. on Monday, but officials fear the communications network needed to link ticket retailers to the central lottery computer won't be in place before the "Pick 3" game is set to start on March 6.

Alpharetta, Ga.-based Scientific Games sued its partner, AT&T, after the telecommunications giant said it may not meet the deadline to create the lottery network.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and a court order requiring AT&T to complete the work on time.

"I've not dealt directly with AT&T," said lottery commission Chairman C.B. Smith. "But it appears AT&T is not making a substantial effort to meet their obligations."

AT&T refuses to hook up retailers from Dec. 21 to Jan. 7, Smith said.

Smith said there also have been cases where company workers stopped working for the day when an address on a work order did not match up with the retailer's street address.

AT&T spokesman David Arneke said last week that the company is committed to meeting its obligations to the state, but the contract "does not contain a specific date for implementation."

"We're not going to debate this in the media," Arneke said.

Scientific Games systems division President Bill Huntley said he would not talk about the lawsuit or its contract with the South Carolina lottery.

"We fully intend to honor the letter and spirit of that agreement," Huntley said. The company will "make all reasonable measures to make certain the system is installed within the time frames and other specifications of the contract."

More than 3,000 retailers have been issued licenses. AT&T has been setting up data lines outside the shops that will offer online games. Local communications companies -- such as BellSouth -- will then hook up the outside line to an inside line, lottery spokeswoman Tara Robertson said.

Despite the lawsuit, work continues on setting up the lottery. So far, 80 million tickets have been printed and 17 million have been sold to retailers, Smith said. The tickets will be delivered to retailers late this week.

A public hearing was held Thursday on lottery regulations, which set up the policies and procedures to operate the lottery commission and regulate the games.

No one attended the public hearing. The regulations, which were approved by the commission Nov. 8, now will go to the General Assembly for review.

The lottery also continues to expand. Executive Director Ernie Passailaigue was in Greenville Thursday at the ribbon-cutting for the first regional office. A second office will open soon in Charleston.