Lottery chief Passailaigue takes Arkansas job

COLUMBIA — Ernie Passailaigue will trade in his $218,105 salary at the South Carolina lottery to start up the Arkansas games for $324,000 a year.

The Arkansas Lottery Commission decided Friday to hire Passailaigue, a Charleston native.

"My goal is not to sell lottery tickets to every adult breathing in Arkansas," Passailaigue said via conference call. "My goal is to make sure this lottery is run with the highest degree of integrity, to make sure thatthis lottery is not injurious to the people of Arkansas — that at the end of the day the people will look back on this five or 10 years from now and say this has been a positive part of the life of the people of Arkansas."

Senate leader Glenn Mcconnell, R-Charleston, said Friday that he was sorry to hear the news.

"I hate to see us lose him because he did a great job," McConnell said. "He put a first-class lottery together from scratch and had no hint of impropriety there."

Tim Madden, chairman of the Lottery Commission, said Passailaigue will work through the end of June. The commission soon will begin a nationwide search committee to find his replacement.

"Ernie has been a tremendous leader and asset for the South Carolina Education Lottery," Madden said. "We're very proud of what he's done and South Carolina should be very proud of him and the integrity which he has provided. It is certainly a great loss for us. He will be sorely missed. He built a very strong foundation and the lottery will continue to have success."

Passailaigue represented Charleston County in the state Senate as a Democrat from 1988 until he resigned to take the lottery job. As a legislator, Passailaigue supported the creation of the lottery. He was selected for the top job out of pool of more than 50 candidates.

His supporters for the job, including McConnell, said it was Passailaigue's experience in business, politics and entertainment that made him the ideal fit. Passailaigue is a certified public accountant and had at one time owned Charleston's minor league baseball team, which was called the Rainbows.

He also had sought to be named president of the College of Charleston and in 2005 was a finalist to head the North Carolina lottery.

Voters in Arkansas approved the lottery last November. Officials want to sell the first lottery tickets by the end of this year.