A billion one-fifty (in sales) is certainly a challenge. The reason I'm not too nervous is you have such a large population, and a large population for a lottery means you have a lot more occasional players than most states do. |
All of the pieces of the puzzle have to come together. We have to focus on that and nothing else. Whatever happens, happens. That's life. |
Early indications are that retailers are receiving tickets, and everything is working. |
I don't concern myself with the things that are swirling around. My concern is to get this lottery started up with integrity with a quality organization. And both of those companies ... have a proven track history. |
I think it's tough to measure a lottery on the first stroke of a brush. |
I would venture to say we are one of the top startups in the U.S. as far as total sales. |
I wouldn't say it's scientifically an absolute, but I believe it personally from my experience in the lottery. |
I'm confident that all we have left now is to throw the switch. |
If it's issued, we have to stop. That's the law. We can't do anything. |
If we've got to stop, then we have no commercials. If we turn back, we've just wasted your money. |
In order to start a lottery, you need to get everything done as soon as possible. It certainly hinders your advertising campaign if you don't have that (logo) out there. |
It's probably slowed us down a little bit, but we're on track. |
On the TV ads, we really want to hit home and focus on the educational benefit that will happen over time. On the radio ads, they'll focus on the games and how to play. |
Once in a while one of them does very well, but for the most part you need foot traffic in your business. If you're the type of business that's going to draw, oh, say 100 people a day, chances are you're not going to keep up. |
Our staff has been working very late trying to identify any possible situation. |