Director ready for Tennessee lottery launch

Amber McDowell

Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2004 | 9:10 a.m.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A little more than a week before the first Tennessee lottery ticket is sold, CEO Rebecca Paul said the "infrastructure is ready" for a successful launch.

"While there are 1,000 things to do between now and (next) Tuesday, we're really confident with where we are," Paul told board members of the Tennessee Education Lottery Corp. during Monday's weekly teleconference.

Proceeds from the lottery, set to begin at 12:01 a.m. Jan. 20, will fund college scholarships for qualifying Tennessee students, with any extra money going to prekindergarten programs and K-12 building projects.

As of Monday, 2,700 businesses approved to sell tickets have had the necessary equipment installed and tested, Paul said. And with lottery workers installing equipment at an average of 120 businesses a day, she said "we'll clearly be past our goal of 3,000 by the end of the week."

Lottery tickets for the first four scratchoff games will be distributed to businesses Monday, with retailers getting a larger allotment than typical because of anticipated heavy first-week sales, Paul said.

"We don't want anyone to run out," she said.

The games -- Tennessee Millionaire, Tennessee Treasures, Lucky 7's and $100,000 Jackpot -- will cost between $1 and $5 and award prizes up to $1 million.

The lottery began airing television commercials promoting the kickoff of the games Monday and will place ads in most Tennessee newspapers the day before the launch, Paul said.

Board members also approved a series of resolutions Monday that set up a basic framework for the lottery to begin operation next week, including employee standards of conduct, recruitment and selection and investment policies.