During a Pinnacle Financial Partners forum Nov. 4, Rebecca Paul, CEO of the Tennessee Education Lottery Corp., revealed some of the pressure she has been under to get the lottery up and running by February.

"I've been on the job now a total of 43 days," she said. "It seems like 43 years."

For the next three months, she and her staff expect to be working 16 hours per day, until the first lottery ticket is sold.

Paul said there are three things the lottery must do extraordinarily well. One is to know why it's in business. It's in business to market a consumer product, she said. Competitors are not other lotteries in states such as Georgia, Kentucky and Virginia, which may become partners of Tennessee for certain lottery games, but other consumer products, such as Coca-Cola and Frito-Lay snacks available in convenience stores.

It's also important for the lottery to know who its customer is, which is the retailer. Paul says the lottery must build a good working relationship with its customers in order to be a success with consumers, the retailers' customers.

Finally, the lottery must understand the product it sells and establish integrity in the lottery games so that each consumer realizes they have as much of a chance of winning as anyone else. Initially, four types of lottery games will be launched, with another four within two weeks. Paul will decide what games will be played.

Last week, lottery application packages were sent out to 3,600 retailers. About 1,000 have already been returned. Across the country, 72 percent of lottery tickets are sold in convenience stores.