Tags:
| Updated: 3/27/2012 6:45 pm |
Published: 3/27/2012 6:33 pm |
LITTLE ROCK, AR - Lottery commissioners are debating whether students are losing scholarship dollars because of a multi-million dollar gaming contract. At stake, a possible decision to void the scratch off contract - which would cause a major disruption to the lottery.
There's a question in the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery right now. Is its scratch-off ticket contract valid?
The internal auditor Michael Hyde walked commissioners through a power point presentation on Tuesday explaining that the contract commissioners agreed to back in 2009 with vendor Scientific Games is not what went into effect, and it is costing Arkansas college students up to $2 million in scholarship money.
Lottery director Bishop Woosley disagrees. He told commissioners that while the contract for scratch off tickets may not be perfect, it is a legally binding contract. And that if the commission decided to void the contract and start over, it would have drastically negative implications for the lottery.
Woosley says he's in negotiations to perhaps get $2 million back from Scientific Games, as a good-faith gesture on the part of the vendor. But that good faith could be lost after Tuesday’s meeting.
The lottery commission agreed to meet again in the next two weeks to bring the vendor contract issue to a conclusion.
