Arkansas Lottery ticket sales as early as October?

It’s not unreasonable to have an Arkansas Lottery director in place by July 1, even though the application for the high-profile job won’t be posted until June 1, according to the director of the Tennessee Lottery.

In an interview with Roby Brock at TalkBusiness.net, Tennessee Lottery Director Rebecca Hargrove said a director could be hired by July 1 and Arkansas Lottery tickets could be sold within six months of the director’s first day on the job.

Ernie Passailaigue, the South Carolina lottery director who recently spoke to Arkansas Lottery commissioners last week, said lottery tickets could be sold as soon as five months after hiring the director.

Brock notes in this post that Arkansas Lottery Commission members are working to hire an executive director and staff in hopes of selling the first lottery ticket by the end of 2009. The commissioners recently reviewed a timeline that would see the first ticket sold no later than October 2009.

The time between a director hiring and ticket sales in other states, according to Hargrove and Passailaigue, are:
• Florida — 6 months
• Georgia — about 5 months
• Tennessee — 4 months and 2 days.
• North Carolina — 3 months and 25 days