The V.I. Lottery Commission Thursday adopted a new automated system designed to streamline the ticketing and drawing process for its traditional lottery game.
The decision as made Thursday night at a meeting which began at the start of the month but had to be continued after the commission lost its quorum.
Commission members said the new system will bring significant savings for the agency, allowing tickets to be printed in-house instead of in bulk through the Department of Property and Procurement.
Under the current system, after the tickets are printed they are brought back to the Lottery’s main office, counted and distributed to the various dealers. The dealers then count and sort the tickets and distribute them to the different locations around the territory. The sales locations have to verify receiving the tickets and report back to Lottery officials about the numbers. Lottery officials have explained that the day before a drawing, each sales office tallies up all unsold tickets, which then have to be transported from one location to the next on its way back to Lottery.
Under the new system, tickets can be requested from any sales location, along with specific numbers. Officials can check to see if a specific number is in circulation once a dealer requests it. Safeguards will also be put in place to limit chances of fraud and theft. The new tickets will have a bar code that registers it on the system so Lottery will know if it’s a valid ticket if someone comes in to cash it, officials said.
With the system, Lottery can set and change drawing dates and prizes, can add terminal options and extra bonuses for specific drawings.
Lottery officials have said they would like to launch in October, but want to talk to all its dealers and representatives throughout the territory first.
Voting to adopt the new system were commission members Angel Dawson Jr., Debra Gottlieb, Lloyd Daley, Adrienne Williams and Conrad E. Francois II.
After an executive session, the commission also approved Lottery’s fiscal year 2012 budget. Commission members said they will make a budget presentation next week before the Legislature.
Officials also commented on the status of an Inspector General’s audit that looks into the operations of the system. Dawson, the commission’s chairman, said the members have received a draft of the audit and agree with some of the findings, while others have been dealt with through a change in management.
Commission members attending the meeting were Dawson, Gottlieb, Daley, Williams and Francois.
