Lottery revives idea of keno as cash backup

Board seeks to prop up flagging sales, scholarships

With Arkansas’ lottery expecting to raise less money for college scholarships in the current fiscal year than it did in the last one, Arkansas’ lottery commission agreed Monday to study the possibility of launching a new game - keno - that Gov. Mike Beebe and key lawmakers said they weren’t interested in having in Arkansas only four years ago.

The commission’s action comes nearly three weeks after the Legislature’s lottery oversight committee co-chairman, Rep. Mark Perry, D-Jacksonville, suggested that the commission could consider “monitor games” such as keno on a trial basis in order to raise more money for college scholarships.

In June of 2009, then-lottery Director Ernie Passailaigue said he envisioned keno being played in bars or restaurants by people watching monitors, like television screens, for winning numbers that pop up every five minutes. But the idea was abandoned after Beebe and key lawmakers objected to the lottery offering the game.

After the commission’s meeting Monday, commission Director Bishop Woosley said there are many other monitor games beyond keno that lotteries offer.

Any monitor game in Arkansas would have to be a terminal-generated game under which lottery players submit a play slip to select their numbers and their winnings would be based on numbers that they select, he explained.

During the first 11 months of fiscal 2013, the lottery raised $85.7 million for college scholarships - $2.7 million short of the $88.4 million generated during the same period in fiscal 2012, Woosley said in a written report to the commission. The lottery raised $97.5 million for college scholarships in fiscal 2012.

With fiscal 2013 ending on Saturday, Woosley said he hopes the lottery raises enough for scholarships to reach and even exceed his revised estimate of $90 million for fiscal 2013 - down from his original projection of $98.5 million.

The lottery started selling tickets on Sept. 28, 2009, and raised $82.7 million for scholarships during its first nine months. It generated $94.2 million in fiscal 2011.

Noting Perry’s interest in reviving the topic, Commissioner Dianne Lamberth of Batesville asked the commission to “revisit” whether the lottery should offer keno and review which other states offer the game, how they have fared and what types of net proceeds have been raised from the game.

Commissioner Bruce Engstrom of North Little Rock said, “We were put into place by a vote of the Arkansas people [that approved Amendment 87 in 2008]. Would it require going back to them to allow keno or is it already under what we are allowed to do?”

Woosley, who is the commission’s former legal counsel, said the state’s lottery law allows the lottery to offer keno.

Commissioner Steve Faris of Central, a former state senator, asked Woosley to survey members of the Legislature’s lottery oversight committee about how they feel about the lottery offering keno “before we delve into it head first.”

Commissioner Ben Pickard of Searcy and Engstrom said they agreed with Faris.

Pickard said he recalled “when this issue was discussed initially, there was quite a bit of resistance from the Legislature.”

“Personally, I think that’s a little foggy” about whether the lottery law allows the lottery to offer keno, he said.

“I am not sure whether this is what the people voted on when we started or not, and I would like some further clarification on that also,” Pickard said.

Afterward Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said the governor still opposes having the lottery offer keno, but he respects that the final decision lies with the nine-member commission.

Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, who serves on the Legislature’s lottery oversight committee, said he’s not even familiar with what keno is.

“I have no idea,” he said.

Last October, the commission approved an amendment to the lottery’s 2009 contract with Athens, Greece-based vendor Intralot Inc., under which the firm agreed to provide 600 17-or 19-inch electronic advertising displays for lottery retailers in return for the lottery returning 400 monitors that could be used for keno.

Woosley said the advertising displays are similar to a television and show lottery advertising for jackpot games, new games, promotions, and social-media sites.

After the commission met for more than an hour in a closed-door session to review Woosley and Internal Auditor Matthew Brown, commission Chairman George Hammons of Pine Bluff said both employees received “a favorable [job] evaluation.”

Arkansas, Pages 7 on 06/25/2013

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