Tennessee Lottery CEO Rebecca Paul said at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Wednesday the lottery should reach its goal of raising $88 million for education the first year, and may have some left over for preschool education.
She said the lottery has brought in $141 million in a month and five days, including $30 million that will go toward its education fund.
She said lotteries typically fall off substantially after the initial excitement, but she said Tennessee's has stayed very popular.
Ms. Paul said she believes many Tennesseans were already accustomed to buying lottery tickets in adjacent states.
She also said the state lottery has been offering "multiple products" to try to keep players interested. There have been a number of scratchoff games, and she said the new Cash 3 starts on Monday. She said in early summer Tennessee will join in the multi-state Powerball games. She noted Powerball has gone over $100 million five times in recent months, and also hit $200 million and more than $300 million on occasions.
The speaker at the dvent at the Conference Center said $75 million has been paid to players in the Tennessee Lottery thus far.
She was asked about Georgia not being able to fulfill promises of its Hope Scholarship, and she said she believes Tennessee will avert that mistake.
She said the Georgia Legislature continued to expand the eligibility for the scholarship, but she said Tennessee has put down set amounts, including a basic $3,000 for top scholars.
She said in Georgia the Hope Scholarship "helped stop the brain drain and helped keep the best and the brightest students in Georgia."
She said she does not believe a bill will pass to allow a casino at the Pyramid in Memphis.
Ms. Paul was asked about minority participation, and she said 51 percent of her staff is African-American and 35 percent of its business is with African-American firms.
She was introduced by Jim Hill, state lottery board member from Chattanooga, who said Ms. Paul "is compensated well, but we really underpay her for the kind of work that she has done for us."
He said when the board was seeking a CEO she was constantly cited as the top lottery operator "not only in this country but in the world."
He said the lottery is a billion-dollar business and the lottery board seeks to run it like a business.
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