Meetings

Agendas and Minutes

New Hampshire Lottery Commission
January 23, 2008
Meeting Minutes:

NEW HAMPSHIRE LOTTERY® COMMISSION
14 INTEGRA DRIVE, CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE 03301
MINUTES OF COMMISSION MEETING
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2008     

     Commissioner Campbell called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m.

1. ACCEPTANCE AND SIGNING OF PREVIOUS MINUTES :

     Commissioner Holloway made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Klemm, to approve the December, 2007 commission meeting minutes.  So voted, unanimous. 

2. COMMISSION ACTION ON CONTRACT EXTENSION WITH SCIENTIFIC GAMES, INC.  FOR INSTANT TICKET PRINTING SERVICES:

     Director Wisler stated there were two 2 year renewal options remaining for the Scientific Games instant ticket contract with the Lottery.  Research was conducted to compare New Hampshire’s current contract cost with contract costs of similar sized states, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Arizona, and was presented to the Commission for review.  Director Wisler stated the comparison used in the analysis was for similar priced and similar sized instant ticket products.  Based upon that analysis, New Hampshire’s instant ticket contract was the lowest price.  A brief discussion was held on whether Arizona’s instant ticket contract services are comparable to New Hampshire’s services received and if the state should be included in the final analysis.  Commissioner Campbell requested that Scientific Games do a more in depth review to determine if this is the case.   Director Wisler recommended to the Commission that the first of two 2 year contract extension options be exercised with Scientific Games.  Commissioner  Klemm made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Holloway, to approve the 2 year instant ticket contract extension with Scientific Games.  So voted, unanimous.    

3. TRI-STATE REPORT:

     Commissioner Campbell announced the Tri-State Commission meeting originally scheduled on January 11th  was rescheduled as a teleconference call on January 14th , due to inclement weather conditions.  The Tri-State Commission approved Barry, Dunn, McNeil and Parker for Tri-State audit services for another year.  Maura McCann, Program Informations Officer, updated the Commission on the New Year Millionaire Raffle game results.  Ms. McCann stated sales for the raffle game were from November 1st through December 31st.  The drawing was held on January 4, 2008 at New Hampshire Lottery headquarters using the random number generator.  Ms. McCann reported that New Hampshire sold 65% of their 80,000 raffle tickets; Maine sold 66% of their 80,000 raffle tickets; and Vermont sold 72% of their 40,000 raffle tickets.  New Hampshire sold the $1,000,000 grand prize winning ticket in Rochester, New Hampshire.  The ticket was claimed in the name of the Cha Trust of Rochester by Attorney Franklin C. Jones, on behalf of the winner(s).  The Tri-State Product Development Committee is reviewing the raffle game results to determine whether any future raffle games will be offered.  A brief discussion was held on other states’ past raffle games results.  Director Wisler stated that if raffle game(s) are offered in the future, more emphasis will be placed on advertising the additional lower tier prizes for better public awareness.   

4. ADVERTISING:

     Maura McCann gave an update on Replay enhancements, the New Hampshire Star program, and lottery website redesign.  Approximately 3,000 out-of-state residents have signed up for Replay since its inclusion of out-of-state membership on November 1, 2007.  Ms. McCann stated the jackpot alert campaign launched which allows players to sign up through Replay to receive jackpot alerts through email or text message notification for games they are interested in.  A “lucky cat” promotion will be offered soon, similar to the “lucky dog” promotion offered last year.  The Ultimate Replay drawing prize for March will be approximately $10,000 worth of appliances from Baron’s Major Brands.

     The New Hampshire Star campaign connected with the Replay site is projected to launch on February 19th.  There will be three phases; program introduction; semi-finalists selection; and winner announcement in late April. 

     The redesign of the Lottery’s website is underway.  Griffin, York and Krause (GYK) stated the new website development will begin on March 17th.  Rose Longo-White of GYK stated the advertising agency is developing a new New Hampshire Lottery logo. 

     Patrick Griffin advised the Commission of the current Replay membership and site activity.  Mr. Griffin stated over 11 million replay points were earned by members this past week.        

5. DISCUSSION ON SALES TERMINAL SCANNING FUNCTIONALITY:

     Director Wisler stated he had received a request from Robert Preston, Games Manager, to discontinue the lottery terminal side scanning functionality for online tickets, for security reasons and to address public complaints received, and restrict the side scanner to scanning instant tickets only.  Director Wisler stated as soon as he is informed of the software implementation date from Scientific Games, the retailers will be notified of this change through the lottery’s newsletter. 

6. UPDATE OF ON-GOING PROJECTS:

     Georges Roy, Administrator III, stated the audit observations/responses for Fiscal Year 2007 were emailed to the Commissioners, and would be forwarded to KPMG tomorrow.  There will be an exit interview for the audit and the audit is expected to be presented to the Fiscal Committee for approval in May.  Mr. Roy stated the lottery’s building lease has gone through the state’s required process and will be presented to Governor and Council for approval at the February 13th meeting.  The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report was presented to the Fiscal Committee last week and was well received.  The latest net profit transfer to Education in January was $7.1 million for December’s net profits. 

     A discussion was held regarding the most current weekly sales report.  Robert Preston announced that 50%-60% of the retailers generate approximately 80% of lottery sales.  Retailers are being encouraged to sell more higher priced instant tickets and transition toward stocking and selling less quantity of the lowest priced instant tickets. 

     Lottery sales trends are correlating with economic times and high gas prices.  Prospective non-traditional lottery sales retail locations such as business chains and movie rentals, are being reviewed and contacted.  Robert Preston announced that the lottery sales representatives will be notifying the retailers that they are now able to sell lottery tickets outside their stores, such as at fairs. 

     Director Wisler reported that discussions are being held with GTECH regarding whether the two year renewal option will be exercised on the instant ticket vending machine contract.  A recommendation will be provided to the Commission at their next commission meeting.  Director Wisler stated the current on-line contract with Scientific Games will expire in June, 2010.  Batelle has been contracted by Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont for development of the request for proposal (RFP) for the on-line lottery terminal services over the next two years.  The RFP will require providing state of the art lottery terminals which will be smaller units, and have more marketing capabilities.    

7. OTHER BUSINESS:

     Patrick Griffin stated the ad agency had working on redeveloping a corporate identity for the New Hampshire Lottery.  Mr. Griffin presented a selection of proposed lottery logos for Commission review and approval of a new logo to be trademarked.  The Commission will review options for the new logo and communicate their preference at a later date.

     Commissioner Campbell entertained a motion to hold an executive session at 3:30 p.m. to discuss a personnel matter.  Commissioner Klemm made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Holloway, to go into executive session.  So voted, unanimous.  The executive session concluded at 4:20 p.m. with no commission action taken.

Richard J. Campbell, Jr., Chairperson     
Paul J. Holloway, Commissioner
Arthur P. Klemm, Jr., Commissioner