Lottery Tickets Go On Sale In August

Wyoming residents will be able to play their first WyoLotto games in August, the chief executive officer of the Wyoming Lottery Corp. said Wednesday.

"The exact date won't be known until the corporation signs the contract with the gaming vendor probably Monday," Jon Clontz said.

"It will be in August, and I'll be releasing a date within a week," Clontz said.

He and others affiliated with WyoLotto spoke to potential retailers of the lottery at two workshops on Wednesday to introduce them to the application and contract process.

The corporation also gathered ideas from them as well, Clontz said.

In a few weeks, he will present them to the board of the Wyoming Lottery Corp. for consideration for the final draft, he said. "Once they give the approval for it, we'll start actual retail recruitment and I think that will be about the third week in May."

Between 400 retailers and 450 retailers initially will be able to sell lottery tickets, Clontz said. Most of them probably will be gas stations, convenience stores, truck stops, hotel chains, restaurants and bars, Clontz said. "We're open to looking at all applications."

Last fall, the Wyoming Lottery Corp.'s board hired Clontz. He was the Deputy Director-Chief Operating Officer with the Oregon Lottery, which started in 1985 and now generates over $1 billion in annual sales.

While WyoLotto revenue estimates are preliminary, he said between 35 percent and 45 percent of proceeds will go to the state, or between $14 million and $17 million a year, Clontz said. The first 6 percent of state revenues goes to cities, towns and counties, and the remainder goes to education, he added.

Retailers will receive 6 percent of the gross revenues.

Operational costs were about 3 percent in Oregon and Clontz figures they will be similar in Wyoming, he said. "We're building historical data on what the operational costs will be, but it should be pretty low overhead because we're outsourcing the lottery."

Depending on the final language of the contract, the gaming vendor Intralot Inc. will receive about 11.89 per cent of the gross revenues, he said.

Likewise, depending on the contract, about 40 percent of lottery revenues will go to prize money, Clontz said.

The establishment of WyoLotto has progressed quickly.

In March, the Wyoming Lottery Corp. hired Intralot, Inc. to provide the gaming system -- equipment, software and personnel.