Ark. Lotto Begins Licensing Retailers For Tickets

ANDREW DeMILLO

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — State officials on Wednesday awarded the first license to sell Arkansas lottery tickets to a Magnolia gas station whose parent company started a college scholarship program in 2007.

The Arkansas Lottery Commission issued the license to a gas station owned by El Dorado-based Murphy Oil USA Inc., clearing the way for the store to begin selling scratch-off tickets when they go on sale Sept. 28. The license is the first of nearly 1,800 retailers expected to be cleared for ticket sales by late next month.

Lottery Director Ernie Passailaigue said the lottery decided to award the first license to Murphy Oil partly because of the scholarship program Murphy Oil Corp. started in the town of El Dorado. The program offers scholarships to every graduating senior in the El Dorado School District.

Passailaigue said the program highlights the state lottery's mission to raise money for college scholarships. Voters approved a constitutional amendment authorizing the lottery in November.

"This is a perfect fit for us," Passailaigue said. "It symbolizes what this lottery is all about."