news-record.com

Tom Shaheen has a message for state employees in line to receive a 1.5 percent pay raise:

"They can come apply for jobs at the lottery if they think we're getting more than them," the executive director of the N.C. Education Lottery told The News & Observer of Raleigh last week.

Well, lottery employees are getting more. The lottery commission just approved average pay hikes of 5 percent. Shaheen himself draws $246,000 a year, the fourth-highest salary in state government, outside the university system.

But the work is extra hard, Shaheen explained.

"We're the only ones that have to market a consumer product and try to operate in the private business world as a state agency," he said.

Not really. The state Alcoholic Beverage Control system is in the same category. But neither operates in a normal business environment. Both enjoy state-granted monopolies, the lottery for numbers and ABC for liquor.

The lottery's marketing isn't going all that well, anyway. It hasn't met its initial revenue projections, and last month a state performance audit pointed to four management weaknesses: no documented revenue forecasting methodology, no formal strategic plan, no ongoing marketing or operational research, and no full-cost accounting of promotional events.

And, contrary to lottery officials' worries about low pay, the audit found salaries are in line with lottery organizations in neighboring states.

Whether other state employees take Shaheen up on his offer might depend on their values. Some might think they're doing more useful work in the Highway Patrol, or as public health specialists, or as wildlife resource officers, or as something else that doesn't depend on people losing their money playing the lottery.

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