Friction at the Arkansas Lottery: A firing and hushup of a $2 million winner

[TexasTowelie]

Persistent reports about unhappiness in the ranks about new Arkansas Lottery director Eric Hagler burst into the open yesterday.

I learned Friday about a disagreement over his decision not to release to the public the names of winners of $2 million in a Powerball drawing in September. And today, Michael Wickline of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that Hagler had fired the lottery’s chief legal counsel, Michael Helms, for reasons not yet revealed.

Hagler was appointed director after a Beebe-era director, Bishop Woosley, quietly was eased out to make room for a Hutchinson administration pick. Hagler, who was practicing law in California, had no lottery experience but he knew Governor Hutchinson from time working in Arkansas and his father, a Little Rock physician, is a friend of Larry Walther, head of Finance and Administration, which includes the Lottery under its umbrella.

I’ve received complaints from staff about Hagler’s management style, but it’s hard to evaluate perceptions of treatment by holdover staff in a new administration. (See Little Rock police department, about which I’ll have more to say later today.)

Read more: https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2020/12/12/friction-at-the-arkansas-lottery-a-firing-and-hushup-of-a-2-million-winner

[JoeOtterbein]

1. Interesting:

And now about the hushed-up lottery winner. I was tipped that Hagler had blocked public release of the names of two people who shared a $2 million Powerball ticket bought in Pine Bluff in September. He reportedly told the winners he’d keep their names secret. When told the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act prevented that, he reportedly was not happy. But he did block a public release, normally a routine practice because news of big winners is believed to spur lottery ticket sales. There were public reports of a $2 million win and an announcement of the Pine Bluff store where the ticket was sold, but no release of the winners’ names.