LAUNCHING THE N.C. EDUCATION LOTTERY - COUNTDOWN TO TICKET SALES

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 posted 03:38 AM EST

Organizers of the N.C. Education Lottery are buying advertising time, scouting for office space and taking applications from retailers as they scramble to be ready to sell the first tickets March 30.

A look at the numbers, with 29 days to go: 4,000 Target number of retailers the lottery wants to have in place to sell tickets by the launch date.

5,600 Retailers who have applied.

100 Employees already hired. An additional 41 candidates have been offered jobs.

$3 million Spent so far on hiring staff, renting office space, buying vehicles, purchasing terminals. It's part of a $10 million startup loan from state tax money that the lottery will have to repay over the next two years.

$18.25 million Amount that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools could get for facilities during the next school year if early sales projections pan out.

$19 million Estimated amount to be taken in next year by multinational GTECH Corp., which won a contract for installing and operating the ticket machines.

$50,000 Bonus that would go to director Tom Shaheen, beyond his $235,000-a-year salary, if the lottery starts on time.



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