Paul, lottery team working overtime

Jan 5, 2004, 6:13 am (1 comment)

Tennessee Lottery

Tennessee Lottery employees received little time off during the holidays as the upstart corporation works overtime to see ticket sales begin prior to next months deadline.

Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation (TEL) CEO Rebecca Paul says her team is working 14 to 16 hours per day seven days a week.

Workers contracted by gaming vendor GTECH are installing lottery machines in an estimated 100 retail locations every day. The installation process continued non-stop through the holidays including New Years Day. The sole day in which installations werent made was Christmas.

Other than Christmas day, retailers are open and retailers are anxious to get installed, said Paul.  We still start on or before February tenth and well have 3,000 retailers installed before [the Feb. 10 deadline].

Paul previously said that 3,000 retailers would be necessary to meet goals set.

A new sales team of more than 40 employees is in place and is expected to take to the roads this week training retailers on lottery computer use.

As of last week more than 1,300 locations across the state had the equipment in place. And roughly 3,114 out of a total of 4,199 retail applications have been approved as lottery-eligible.

Two shifts, including temporary help, are busy working on retailer approvals.

Were going to do everything we can to get as many retailers ready & as possible. Were working as hard as we can.

The TEL has 36 days to meet the Feb. 10 goal of the first scratch-off ticket sale.

The TEL staff met Saturday for a Lottery 101 training session.

Sen. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis), who pushed for a Tennessee lottery for roughly 19 years, predicts that Paul will sell tickets prior to the Feb. 10 deadline.

I think theyll beat it. Shes a workaholic and shes got everybody down there working, said Cohen Shes done three startups; she knows what shes doing.

Tennessee lottery net proceeds will go toward funding college scholarships with any excess revenues going toward K-12 capital outlay projects and early learning and after school programs.

Nashville City Paper

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CASH Only

Looks like January 20 now!

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