Tri-State Lotto Commission
October 12, 2007
Meeting Minutes:
TRI-STATE LOTTO COMMISSION
New Hampshire Lottery Commission
Concord, NH
OCTOBER 12, 2007, 10:30 a.m.
Present: |
Richard Campbell, New Hampshire Lottery Commission Thomas Scala, Vermont Lottery Orland McPherson, Maine State Lottery Rick Wisler, New Hampshire Lottery Commission Alan Yandow, Vermont Lottery Commission Robert Preston, New Hampshire Lottery Commission Maura McCann, New Hampshire Lottery Commission Kassie Strong, New Hampshire Lottery Commission Hadley Melendy, Vermont Lottery Commission Mary Cassani, Vermont Lottery Commission Carole Lacasse, Vermont Lottery Commission Rich Sperlazzi, Maine State Lottery Lisa Rodrigue, Maine State Lottery Rose Longo-White, Griffin, York and Krause Moe Pepin, Scientific Games Doug Parker, Scientific Games Karl Fortman, Scientific Games Liz Dimmick, Scientific Games Chris Nichols, NL Partners John Ripley, NL Partners |
The meeting was called to order at 10:35 am by Chair Campbell.
ACCEPTANCE OF SEPTEMBER 7, 2007 MINUTES
A motion was made by Commissioner Scala to accept the September 7, 2007 minutes with a date correction on page 3. Motion was seconded and voted in the affirmative.
FINANCE COMMITTEE – Mary Cassani
Gross revenues for Tri-State through August 2007 have increased $1,432,863, or 13.20% compared to last year. Of this increase, Megabucks sales are up in all three states a total of $1,453,870, or 27.88%; Daily Numbers sales are down $494,340, or 12.05%; Paycheck sales are up over Triple Play sales from last year $686,095, or 83.55% and the Promotional Fast Play games are down $212,762, or 29.82%.
Total Expenses so far for fiscal year 2008 are up over last year $717,722. This represents an increase in cost of sales of $809,230 and a decrease in operating expenses of $91,508.
Net Profit through August 2007 increased from last year $750,910, or 19.42%.
The Paycheck Guaranteed Contingency fund is currently short $169,000. All other contingency funds are in the positive. Expired unclaimed prizes are over $1.4 million.
There has been a good response for the Legal RFP. Ads have been placed in two Vermont newspapers and also with the Vermont Bar Association’s website. To date 26 packets have been mailed out. Bid responses are due the end of October.
MARKETING COMMITTEE – Maura McCann
Maine and New Hampshire lotteries shared their point-of-sale and promotional material as well as their radio spots for Lucky Numbers. Next month, plans are to share radio and television spots from each state.
The press clip report was distributed.
DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE – Maura McCann
The committee continues to work on the Fast Play product. There are five games ready to go – Spin 2 Win, Cash Cube, Fish 4 Cash, Cash Vault and Winner Green with Winner Green scheduled to be released mid November.
Lucky Number sales are still doing well. Vermont had sales last week of $16,000; New Hampshire at $26,000 and Maine at $28,000.
Plans are to have a meeting in New Hampshire next month prior to the commission meeting regarding where the Fast Play product is heading, i.e. going to a higher price point, offering multiple games and, if we do go in that direction, how will this be accomplished within the existing structure, etc.
Trademark searches for Fast Play games: Currently, Director Wisler works with a legal group regarding game names. The company is willing to do a trademark search at a cost of approximately $125 per game name. There is a “legal” line item in the budget which can support this cost.
Paycheck Survey: Maine and Vermont conducted their survey on their websites and New Hampshire conducted their survey in their lobby. Information is being reviewed and plans are to report on the results at next month’s meeting.
DRAW COMMITTEE – Maura McCann
Random Number Generator (RNG) Update: Maura has been working with MUSL over the past six weeks regarding the RNG for the Raffle draw. Gaming Laboratories Inc. (GLI) will be conducting the certification on the randomness of the MUSL program. The certification will also cover other current lottery products. The price quoted is $5,900.
MOTION
A motion was made by Commissioner Scala to spend $5,900 to certify the randomness of the RNG by Gaming Laboratories Inc. (GLI). Motion was seconded and voted in the affirmative.
The hardware should arrive any day from MUSL and it will be going into New Hampshire’s secured draw room.
The next steps are to conduct some test runs and document the draw guidelines and have them reviewed by the New Hampshire Lottery staff as well as the independent auditor and the New Hampshire Lottery’s Chief of Security.
OPERATIONS COMMITTEE – Rich Sperlazzi
The committee met via conference call on September 10th. Work continues on the SRS. Discussions have started on the multiple game and price points. If we are going to go forward with multiple games and price points, there are a number of areas to be discussed.
SCIENTIFIC GAMES – Doug Parker
Congratulations to Maura for winning a Powers Award at the fall NASPL conference in Louisville, Kentucky recently.
He complimented the Commission for taking an early proactive stance on preparing for the issuance of RFPs for the three state’s online gaming systems. In addition to complimenting the Commission and staff for beginning this process early, he also wanted to reiterate that he would like to encourage the Commission to allow Scientific Games, as well as the other vendors, to bring forward and present to the Commission what they have seen in recent procurement efforts as the industry’s best practices and other important things to consider when preparing their RFPs.
ACCEPTANCE OF REPORTS
A motion was made by Commissioner Scala to accept the committee reports as presented. Motion was seconded and voted in the affirmative.
OTHER BUSINESS
The next commission meeting date was scheduled for Friday, November 9th, 11:30 a.m. at the New Hampshire Lottery Commission.
A motion to adjourn was made at 11:25 am.