Public Gaming International March/April 2021

29 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • MARCH/APRIL 2021 T he Multi- State Lottery Association recently achieved a major milestone 34 years in the making – total sales of products facilitated by MUSL just crossed $100 billion. The milestone coincided with the relocation of MUSL headquarters, which provided a flashback of Association history as staff packed up the office and sorted through 30-plus years of lottery archives. One item worth mentioning was a 1989 issue of Public Gaming International that featured MUSL’s high-tech headquarters and its first draw game, Lotto*America. While there are many stark contrasts between MUSL then and now, there are also similar story lines between the two eras. First, to give you a better idea of “high-tech” in 1989, the article highlighted how MUSL’s four employees were able to save money on long-distance calls by sharing a building with AT&T, and directors were able to hook up to the office with personal computers to receive data on spreadsheets. Even more groundbreaking for the time, the building had a video teleconferencing center… “With this feature, parties can be seen and heard from different cities with the help of a bank of television cameras and monitors. The video conferencing is expensive, about $300 per half hour but it’s often cheaper than the airline tickets required to meet in person.” Fast-forward to today, MUSL staff has grown to 19 full-time employees, and the Association is once again in a state-of-the-art office space. The new headquarters was designed around one focal point – the MUSL draw room. The new draw room is roughly five times larger than the previous space, which has allowed MUSL to bring all its draw equipment, including its emergency draw machines, into one secure space for easy access. Visibility of draw operations has also increased with additional security cameras, an entire wall of glass and a viewing area for visitors. “MUSL’s draw operations have grown exponentially since the first Lotto*America drawing in 1988,” said Sue E. Dooley, MUSL’s Director of Draws and Productions. “That first year we performed 47 drawings, since then MUSL has performed 35 thousand drawings.” Dooley along with MUSL Executive Director J. Bret Toyne were the among the Association’s four original employees when Lotto*America launched with seven participating lotteries: District of Columbia, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oregon, Rhode Island and West Virginia. One year later, the Association revamped the game’s format by changing the matrix, adding a second weekly drawing and adjusting the price point from $1 per play to 2 plays for $1. The result was an increased MUSL NEWS MULTI -STATE LOTTERY ASSOCIATION FROM ZERO TO $100 BILLION Continued on page 50 Cover of PGRI Magazine from 1989 touting MUSL’s new high-tech headquarters