In his first appearance before state legislators as the Arkansas lottery executive director on July 8th, 2009, Ernie Passailaigue complained that the media were only focusing on the negative and not the positive.
He added that the public would not understand what goes into starting up the lottery from the basics. Passailaigue also explained that his plan to make eighty-eight positions for the games, including a pair of vice presidents that he wants to hire at $225,000 salary each.
The former head of South Carolina's lottery even compared starting up a lottery to a war and staked his future in the Arkansas lottery on whether he could fulfill his promises. The lottery head stated that if he cannot deliver his plan, then he will just head back to South Carolina. Passailaigue said that he is willing to stake his reputation on getting this plan accomplished and making it successful the way he have envisioned it.
Some of the issues that are surrounding lottery director Passailaigue include the $324,000 the Arkansas Lottery Commission decided to pay Passailaigue, making him one of the highest paid lottery directors in the US. Aside from that, the commission offered him an $11,000 housing allowance although he turned it down. Some legislator like Rep. Buddy Lovell (Democrat-Marked Tree) stated that they received complaints regarding the combined $450,000 salaries of the prospective vice presidents.
Passailaigue said that the whole issue is being blown by media and that they are not fully investigating the facts first before reporting it. He added that they cannot justify his salary to an average individual in Arkansas because they will not understand it. Lottery director Passailaigue also denied rumors that the lottery will open the doors to the casino-style gaming.
Passailaigue also discussed the possibility of offering keno although he said that it is not their main priority right now. The game of keno is similar to the lottery where players need to pick the numbers that they believe will win. The amount that they win will depend on how many numbers they correctly guess.
Governor Mike Beebe, who did not vote for the state lottery, said that he did not believe that gaming expansion like keno and scratch-off tickets are not what voters had in mind when they passed the amendment allowing the games.
[20-07]
John Sullivan
