State officials confident of October lottery start-up

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ State Finance Director Scott Meacham says he's confident a state lottery will be in operation on a limited basis this fall. <br/><br/>An October 1st starting date was projected

Tuesday, February 8th 2005, 1:13 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ State Finance Director Scott Meacham says he's confident a state lottery will be in operation on a limited basis this fall.

An October 1st starting date was projected when state officials estimated that the lottery would generate $62-million for the state during the fiscal year that begins July 1st. Meacham says he believes the lottery can begin ``around October'' by offering only the scratch off lottery tickets.

He says electronic lottery games will begin about six months later and ``power ball'' games with big prizes tied to lotteries in other states would start about six months after that.

Proceeds from the lottery are to be used to support education in the state.