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Suggested that drawings be televised on local government access channels
(Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands, April 13, 2004) Today, Senator Shawn-Michael Malone, during the Finance Committee Hearings on the Virgin Islands Lottery, called on the Lottery Executive Director and the Commission to have lottery drawings televised.
In an effort to restore public confidence in and support for the Virgin Islands Lottery, the Executive Director shared with the Senate Finance his "Prospectus," or plans to improve the cash flow of the VI Lottery. The features of the new prospectus are:
1. Increase the First Prize from $150,000 to $175,000; the Second Prize to $45,000; the Third Prize to $25,000; and the fourth prize to $12,500.
2. Re-instate the double terminal on the first prize and a triple terminal on the first prize
3. Add five (5) $5,000 prizes; five (5) $2,000 prizes; fifteen (15) $1,000 prizes; ten (10) $800 prizes; twenty (20) $500 prizes; twenty (20) $300 prizes; and one hundred sixty (160) $250 prizes
4. Increase the dealer commission from $5.00 to $6.00
This plan is designed to give incentives to players and dealers alike to encourage them to buy and sell tickets, respectively, to turnaround poor ticket sale performance. Consequently, the lottery would be earning $768,000.00 with a payout of $480,905.00, leaving a net profit of $287,095.00 for each drawing, or $133,320.00 more than the present.
Senator Malone suggested to the Lottery officials present that to further improve public trust and transparency in the Lottery system, that the prospectus be amended to include televised drawings with the assistance of the government's access channels. "Like the New York and Illinois Lotteries and many other places in the Nation, the VI Lottery should televise the drawings so that its customers and the general public can see how the numbers are being picked. I am sure that more people will participate in the local lottery as a result," Senator Malone suggested. The Executive Director, Mr. Paul Fleming concurred with Senator Malone and said he will move aggressively to implement the Senator's suggestion to have the drawings televised.