1,500-plus outlets being readied for Ark lottery

By The Associated Press

A legislator said Thursday that the General Assembly should consider having Arkansas gambling houses in Hot Springs and West Memphis pay for services for problem gamblers so the state lottery won't have to shoulder the full burden.

Sen. John Key, R-Mountain Home, raised the matter while a legislative lottery oversight committee discussed an agreement to accelerate funding to counsel problem gamblers.

The first lottery tickets are to go on sale at midnight Monday morning and officials said they hope to have counselors trained by Nov. 1.

Key said people calling for help with gambling problems during the lottery's infancy likely had problems before the games began.

"We need to take a look at this in the next session and see if this needs to be spread around to other gambling outlets," Key said.

The Oaklawn Park thoroughbred race track in Hot Springs and Southland Park Gaming and Racing in West Memphis - which has a greyhound track - both have casino-style "electronic games of skill." In July, the last month for which revenues are available, Oaklawn grossed $29.7 million and Southland grossed $35 million.

A 2005 law left it to voters in Hot Springs and West Memphis to decide whether to allow the games. Voters in both cities approved the games in 2006.

Oaklawn Park spokesman Terry Wallace said the track now refers problem gamblers to a national toll-free number that can line up counseling.

"We were waiting to see what the Lottery Commission was going to do," Wallace said. Asked if Oaklawn is willing to help fund a program for problem gamblers, Wallace said the issue had not been raised before.

Wallace did note that Oaklawn's policy allows a problem gambler to instruct the track to remove him if he enters the facility.

"It does happen," Wallace said. "It just doesn't happen often."

Southland general manager Troy Keeping was out of town and didn't immediately return a phone message for comment.

Officials expect between 1 to 3 percent of lottery players will end up problem gamblers. But Arkansas Lottery director Ernie Passailaigue said that with casinos in Arkansas and in surrounding states, it is difficult to develop a clear estimate of how many people will wind up in the program.

Passailaigue said the lottery will temper its advertising and not make promises of solving financial problems.

"We want to make sure people play appropriately," he said.

The treatment program, which the Department of Human Services will administer, is to be funded through money left from unclaimed prizes. Passailaigue said it will take months before any revenue enters that fund. Legislators reviewed an agreement in which the Lottery Commission will draw $200,000 from a state $6 million startup loan to launch the program.

When the lottery gets under way Monday, the vast majority of the 1,551 retailers approved to have lottery terminals will be selling tickets. Passailaigue said more than 1,300 had their equipment installed as of Thursday and that crews would work through the weekend. Nearly 1,800 retailers have applied to sell lottery tickets and some applications are still being processed, he said.

Passailaigue said the commission's Web site - myarkansaslottery.com - is up; there, patrons can find lottery outlets and get information about the games.

He also said work is continuing on redemption centers that are to open in Camden, Jonesboro and Springdale. Until those centers are open, people with winning tickets of more than $500 who have to drive to Little Rock to redeem them will be paid 42 cents per mile.

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