New Hampshire Lottery Commission
September 10, 2008
Meeting Minutes:
Revised 9/30/08
NEW HAMPSHIRE LOTTERY® COMMISSION
14 INTEGRA DRIVE, CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE 03301
MINUTES OF COMMISSION MEETING
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2008 9:30 AM
PRESENT:
Richard J. Campbell, Jr., Chairperson
Paul J. Holloway, Commissioner
Arthur P. Klemm, Jr., Commissioner
Rick Wisler, Executive Director
Diane Campbell, Administrative Assistant I
Georges Roy, Administrator III
Robert Preston, Games Manager
Maura McCann, Programs Information Officer
Rose Longo-White, Griffin, York & Krause, Inc.
Patrick Griffin, Griffin, York & Krause, Inc.
Travis York, Griffin, York & Krause, Inc.
Moe Pepin, SGI
Alan Lyman, SGI
Travis Ikerd, SGI
Ed Dupont, SGI/Dupont Group
Doug Parker, SGI
Charlie Scannella, MDI
Alex Koutroubas, Dennehy & Bouley
Commissioner Campbell called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m.
1. ACCEPTANCE AND SIGNING OF PREVIOUS MINUTES :
Commissioner Holloway made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Klemm, to approve the July, 2008 commission meeting minutes. So voted, unanimous.
2. 9:35 A.M.- RULES PUBLIC HEARING- SW 900 RULES OF LOTTERY INTERCEPT:
A public hearing was held on Sw 900- Rules of Lottery Intercept to allow public comment. No comments were received at the public hearing. Written comments will be accepted until 4:00 p.m. this day.
3. TRI-STATE REPORT:
Commissioner Campbell stated that the Tri-State Commission meeting was held on September 5th. The audit report was presented by Jeff Walla of Berry, Dunn, McNeil and Parker with no material weaknesses reported. The Finance Committee reported that sales through July, 2008 were down 17% year to date. The Finance Director recommended that the contingency for Pick 4 of $250,000 be transferred back to the main contingency fund which was approved by the Tri-State Commission. The Product Development Committee reported that the Weekly Grand launch was on target for February 1, 2009. The funding for promoting the Weekly Grand will come from New Hampshire’s share of expired, unclaimed funds. The Tri-State Commission approved a request for the purchase of new drawing balls for Weekly Grand. The Tri-State Commission upheld the Vermont Lottery Director’s decision of payment denial of a daily numbers claim by a Vermont player who could not produce the winning ticket. The claim was denied per rules requiring the physical possession of the winning ticket for payment. A brief discussion was held on the Tri-State Commission’s audit report for fiscal year ending June 30, 2008.
UPDATE ON NEW INSTANT GAMES
Robert Preston, Games Manager, presented an update on new instant game development primarily for the next six months. An upcoming advertising campaign, “The Year of the Instant Ticket” will focus on a new concept for promoting instant game sales by categories rather than by price point. Mr. Preston commended Scientific Games on their cooperative effort in the development of new instant tickets. The seasonal instant ticket theme is the first category that will be used.
Mr. Preston stated another category, “Fun & Games”, will offer a $10 instant game titled “I Won”. The game will have 40 top prizes of $5,000 each; odds of winning the top prize will be greatly reduced from 1 in 255,000 to 1 in 10,000. “I Won” will offer the best odds of any $10 instant ticket thus far, at 1 in 3.1.
The Lottery’s 45th anniversary next March, 2009 will be promoted through a $1.00 anniversary instant ticket with a top prize of $4,500. A complimentary $5.00 ticket will be released at the same time offering a top prize of $45,000. Another category of instant games will be extended play or mind games, such as solitaire, million dollar password or money puzzle.
Mr. Preston stated removable colored stickers will be used on some instant ticket dispensers to display the tickets by category. Director Wisler announced that the instant ticket display by category will be used at the Lottery booth located at the Eastern States Exposition, which will give the Lottery an opportunity for evaluation.
Mr. Preston stated another instant ticket category will be licensed products such as The Three Stooges, Cheers and the Boston Celtics. If the lottery sponsors the upcoming Celtics exhibition game in Manchester, the Celtics ticket will be sold on October 11th during the exhibition game at the Verizon Center and will be released to the general public on October 13th. MDI, the licensing division of Scientific Games, is preparing a “Celtics” merchandise prize package connected with the Replay program.
Director Wisler recommended that the basketball offered as part of the prize package be autographed by Celtics player(s) to make it unique. Another possibility for instant tickets may be a scratch ticket that offers MasterCard debit gas card prizes.
Director Wisler detailed advertising opportunities and costs connected with promoting the Celtics ticket, proposed by the Fenway Sports Group. A discussion was held on the cost effectiveness and benefits of the various means for advertising this ticket. Available advertising funding was reviewed. Some advertising possibilities include ticket giveaways via radio promotion; point of sale materials; Lottery website; Replay website; cross promotions; retailer promotions; and at the Celtics exhibition game on October 11th .
5. ADVERTISING:
Maura McCann, Programs Information Officer, updated the Commission on the upgraded Lottery website launch, noting any issues and resolutions. The Weekly Grand is on schedule to launch February 1, 2009 with review of point of sale, brochure, and payout card materials underway. The New Hampshire Lottery Star commercial was filmed recently.
Patrick Griffin, commended Scientific Games, Lottery staff, the Office of Information Technology and MUSL on their cooperative efforts regarding the new Lottery website. Mr. Griffin reported on “The Year of the Instant Ticket” advertising campaign. Mr. Griffin presented scripts and characters for television advertising spots and website advertising for the instant ticket categories. Mr. Griffin reported that incentives will be offered through Replay to encourage players to purchase their instant tickets by category and replay their non-winning tickets.
Commissioner Klemm suggested to the advertising agency that subscriptions be promoted through the Replay program, especially during the winter season. Rose Longo- White stated consideration is being given to upgrade the Replay bonus time program and allow players more opportunities to earn higher points, enter into special drawings and win free subscriptions. Mr. York stated that Replay statistics have remained consistent with approximately 250,000 non-winning tickets entered through Replay during the first week of August and approximately 237,000 for the last week of August. Ms. Longo-White stated an increased amount of Replay registrants occurred over Labor Day week, at a total of 674, over double the average number of weekly registrants.
Ms. McCann stated that Maine and Vermont are expected to decide on the Megabucks game change shortly and the three states will vote on the decision. Director Wisler stated hopefully an agreement will be made by the October Tri-State Commission meeting.
6. BUDGET REVIEW:
Georges Roy, Administrator III, discussed the Lottery’s financials listed in the State’s most recent Monthly Revenue Focus Report. Mr. Roy stated in July the Lottery had a net revenue transfer of $5.3 million instead of the estimated $7.3 million. The budgeted net revenue for FY 09 is $87.8 million. Mr. Roy presented an estimated budget report covering Fiscal years 2010-2011. Mr. Roy stated the most significant change for FY 10 and FY 11 was reflected in a $325,000 decrease in Class 093, Advertising, allocated for racetrack purse funding, per budget law amendment. Mr. Roy stated he expected Administrative Services will be requesting a 97% budget of FY 09 adjusted authorized for FY 10 and 100% budget of FY 09 adjusted authorized for FY 11 to meet budget reduction requests.
A discussion was held on the Lottery’s budget.
7. OTHER BUSINESS:
A suggestion was made to schedule a meeting with the Liquor Commission soon.
Commissioner Campbell made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Klemm, to adjourn the commission meeting at 11:30 a.m. So voted, unanimous.
Richard J. Campbell, Jr., Chairperson
Paul J. Holloway, Commissioner
Arthur P. Klemm, Jr., Commissioner