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Arkansas Lottery director's benefits in conflict with law?News Story
Arkansas law expressly prohibits the use of a multiplier in determining the state lottery director's salary for retirement purposes, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said in an opinion Monday. Lottery Director Ernie Passailaigue's base salary is $141,603 a year, but the Lottery Commission has been paying him $324,000 a year thanks to an optional multiplier included in the state's lottery law. His retirement benefits have been based on the $324,000 figure, not his base salary. Sen. Bobby Gl
Feb 8, 2011, 8:54 am - Lottery News

States look for winning formulas to spur lottery salesNews Story
Buy a scratch lottery ticket in Georgia, and you can win music downloads or a seat at an Atlanta Falcons game. In New York, one of the top sellers is an all-black ticket as sleek as an Armani suit. And in Texas, where they brag that everything is bigger, a single ticket goes for $50. With state budgets in crisis and lottery-financed programs like prekindergarten being considered for cuts, the pressure is on to make lottery tickets more attractive to casual scratchers and people who may have n
Dec 23, 2010, 7:37 pm - Lottery News

Arizona teacher claims $95 million Powerball lottery jackpotNews Story
A substitute teacher from Fort Mohave, Arizona, walked into the Arizona Lottery's headquarters Monday and put two weeks of rumors, speculation and excitement to rest, claiming a $95.3 million Powerball prize. Sheila Verke, 64, held the single prize-winning ticket, but her identity had been a mystery since the Dec. 1 drawing. She accepted a jackpot check in person Monday, accompanied by friends and financial advisers. She took the prize as a lump sum of $49.9 million rather than a 30-yea
Dec 14, 2010, 4:29 pm - Lottery News

Ontario lottery players finally get their share of jackpotNews Story
Fifth claimant pulled out of lawsuit early; won't get share Santa Claus is finally coming to town for four local families who've waited almost three years to see him. Slawomir Kowalewski, a former employee of Powco Steel Co. who believed that he'd been duped out of his share of a $24,520,300 Lotto 6/49 jackpot on Jan. 16, 2008, is one of four recipients of this week's settlement of approximately $4 million from the Ontario Lottery Gaming Corp. (OLGC). I'm so happy for my family and my
Dec 13, 2010, 11:51 am - Lottery News

Approval for online poker in D.C. seen as long shotNews Story
Congress sent a message Wednesday to D.C. officials who this week approved plans for the city lottery to offer online poker: Not so fast. The D.C. Council on Tuesday, with little discussion and no public notice, voted 11-2 in favor of a budget amendment that would legalize online poker and fantasy sports gambling through the D.C. Lottery as a means of helping plug a $200 million budget gap. But on Wednesday, Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, ranking Republican on the House subcommittee that ove
Dec 9, 2010, 8:06 am - Lottery News

Arkansas Lottery director scolded by legislatorsNews Story
Updated Nov. 11, 2010, 5:58 pm: Additional detail about audit and findings, with quotations from Passailaigue An Arkansas state audit has revealed a variety of deficiencies in how the Arkansas lottery is being run, and one legislator told the lottery director he would be gone if he led any other state agency. Members of the Legislative Audit Committee on Friday told lottery chief Ernie Passailaigue that they're not satisfied with how he has addressed problems that have come up since the lo
Nov 12, 2010, 1:26 pm - Lottery News

Arkansas Lottery director survives attempted ousterNews Story
The director of the Arkansas Lottery survived an attempt this week to oust him from his job. The Arkansas Lottery Commission voted down a motion to fire Ernie Passailaigue after the lottery director drew a strong rebuke for granting compensatory time off to employees who were exempt from receiving overtime pay. I'm going to let the motion speak for itself, said commissioner Ben Pickard of Searcy, who made the motion after the commission returned from executive session. Pickard and commiss
Sep 10, 2010, 8:48 am - Lottery News

Writer accuses agent of stealing 'Lottery Ticket' movieNews Story
Ice Cube's new movie Lottery Ticket doesn't come out for another week, but there's already a legal fight over the flick from a screenwriter who claims his agent ripped off his idea and gave it to another one of his clients. The man filing the lawsuit is Tom Huang, who once wrote an episode of The Mullets back in 2003. According to legal documents, Huang claims he came up with an idea for a movie back in 2004, wrote a treatment for it. He later talked it over with his agent Brad Kaplan.
Aug 13, 2010, 8:29 am - Lottery News

Online gambling coming to OntarioNews Story
In a bid to keep millions spent on offshore gambling websites in the province, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. says Ontarians will have access to legal online gambling by 2012. Across Canada and around the world, online commerce is part of our everyday lives and OLG is excited to start the consultation process for online gaming and growing its marketplace in the future, OLG chairman Paul Godfrey said Tuesday. Thousands of Ontario residents spend nearly $400 million a year through unr
Aug 11, 2010, 9:34 am - Lottery News

Federal online gambling legislation clears big hurdleNews Story
Maybe there are some teeth in the push for legalization and sensible federal regulation of the Internet gambling industry after all. Sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) chairman of the House Financial Services Committee HR 2267 is a bill designed to establish federal oversight of an online gambling industry that currently resides in murky legal waters for U.S. players. It passed overwhelmingly 41-22 via committee vote last week, advancing the legislation to the House floor, where it h
Aug 7, 2010, 10:23 pm - Lottery News