Gaming briefs for Jan. 6, 2004

Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2004 | 11:10 a.m.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The first tickets for Tennessee's new lottery will go on sale Jan. 20, three weeks sooner than expected, the state's lottery chief said Monday.

The earlier start should produce an extra $15 million to $20 million in revenue to fund college scholarships, CEO Rebecca Paul told the Tennessee Education Lottery Corp. board.

"A whole lot of things have fallen nicely into place, which means several million dollars more in scholarships for Tennessee students," Paul said.

The lottery will start by offering scratchoff tickets known as instant games. The online games -- the pingpong ball drawings of numbers that offer the biggest prizes -- are scheduled to begin 60 days after the instant games launch.

Paul said lottery officials had been considering moving up the initial Feb. 10 launch date for almost a month. It took the completion of several "critical" projects -- including line installation for lottery phone banks and software testing -- to allow the earlier date.

"(We) have been pretty confident that we'd do the 27th without question and then in the last 10 days or so, the final pieces to make the 20th fell into place," she said.

Tighter controls advocated

DENVER -- The Colorado Lottery would be subjected to more frequent audits and tighter regulations under a lawmaker's proposals, prompted by an audit that questioned the lottery's practices.

"It's kind of come to my attention that maybe there were things we weren't very busy paying attention to," Rep. Brad Young, chairman of the Legislature's Joint Budget Committee, said Monday.

"As a Legislature, we don't have much control over what happens there," Young, R-Lamar, said.

Young proposed audits every two or three years, instead of at the current five-year intervals, and more stringent financial practices.

A state audit released Dec. 1 found Lottery officials spent too much money on cell phones, concert tickets and other perks and didn't work hard enough to increase sales.

The audit also found that proceeds distributed for conservation and recreation projects haven't kept pace with sales growth.

Michael Cooke, director of the Colorado Department of Revenue, which oversees the lottery, ordered an investigation of the lottery office after the audit was released.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation seized office computers and the Arapahoe County district attorney is examining records.