WSR 97-15-121

POLICY STATEMENT

WASHINGTON STATE LOTTERY

[Filed July 23, 1997, 8:35 a.m.]

The Washington State Lottery has recently adopted or revised the following policies:

POL 110.005 - USE OF WASHINGTON STATE LOTTERY STATIONERY (revision)

Memorandum stationery has been eliminated; informal written interoffice communication not sent via electronic mail is now printed on lottery logo stationery.

Signed May 27, 1997

POL 110.107 - PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS (revision)

The lottery lowered the amount charged for photocopies of forty or more pages from twenty-five cents to fifteen cents per page. The public records officer may now determine that an on-going request can be paid after the copies have been sent to the requester. All requests must still be in writing, but not necessarily on the form previously required. Added that fraudulent requests for lists of individuals will be denied. Also added information in the general section of the document that public agencies are required to disclose records not specifically exempted, and employees who act in good faith are protected from liability.

Signed April 18, 1997

POL 130.008 - IDENTIFICATION BADGES (revision)

Lottery headquarters employees are no longer required to present their badge to the security guard every time they enter the building. If the guard does not recognize an employee, he/she will ask to see the badge.

Signed April 22, 1997

POL 220.002 - TRAVEL REIMBURSEMENT (revision)

The technical service manager has been authorized to review the lottery director's travel expense voucher for correctness and compliance with OFM regulations, and sign it as approved. This authorization expires when the assistant director of finance position is filled or a new authorization is issued.

Signed March 20, 1997

POL 220.013 - SEMI-ANNUAL AUDIT OF REGIONAL OFFICES (revision)

The lottery's internal audit manager will continue to perform semi-annual audits of the agency's regional offices at the times that he/she determines appropriate. The internal audit manager will now: (a) Also check the general appearance, safety, and sanitation of regional offices during the audits; (b) check that the stock clerk has been trained to perform his/her required duties; and (c) audit and reconcile commodities, including promotional, premiums, and plastics. Region 4 (located at lottery headquarters) is now a part of these audits. The checklists attached to the policy that show what is performed during the audits were updated to reflect other recent policy changes, such as: The elimination of district sales representative ticket inventory and the need to ensure separation of duties when writing/issuing prize checks.

Signed May 28, 1997

POL 220.025 - MAINTAINING SECURITIES (revision)

Added information on obtaining securities for the "Win For Life" scratch game grand prize winners. Specified that all Lotto jackpot payments (including those assigned to a third party) are made on the anniversary date of the drawing for which the prize was won, unless it was impossible for the winner to claim the prize in the calendar year of the drawing because of weekend or extraordinary closure of the lottery's offices. In this instance only, the claimant may receive the Lotto annuity from the date the prize is claimed.

Signed June 12, 1997

POL 230.008 - INSTANT TICKET FULL PACK RETURNS (revision)

All full packs (which are defined as being a pack with the shrink wrap intact) in received status shall be accepted for return; however, there are circumstances in which lottery customer service may return a pack in activated or settled status to received status (these circumstances are spelled out in POL 230.009 - Changing the Status of Instant Ticket Packs). Added steps for using a bar-code scanner to return tickets to the lottery warehouse. The lottery recommends that retailers activate instant tickets within sixty days of receipt (used to say thirty days).

Signed April 16, 1997

POL 250.004 - MAIL-IN PRIZE VALIDATION AND PAYMENT and

POL 250.005 - WALK-IN PRIZE VALIDATION AND PAYMENT (revisions)

Clarified that tickets presented to the lottery for payment are validated against the Washington Administrative Code rules that apply to that type of game (instant tickets are validated against instant rules; on-line rules are validated against on-line rules).

Signed June 9, 1997

POL 260.001 - PURCHASING SECURITIES FOR LOTTO JACKPOT WINNERS (revision)

Securities brokers can now offer "noncallable, principle strips," in addition to United States treasury zero stripped coupons.

Signed June 17, 1997

POL 310.015 - INSTALLING/REMOVING INSTANT TERMINALS (revision)

Updated the language associated with the lottery's former on-line vendor. On-line terminals are no longer engraved; the terminal number is now entered into the on-line vendor's computer system. District sales representatives (DSRs) no longer install and remove the on-line terminals from retail locations; instead they are responsible for notifying the vendor of the required installation/removal. However, DSRs do have authority to remove a terminal from a retail location during a "hostile situation," such as when the retailer's license has been revoked and he/she is threatening to damage the equipment.

Signed June 16, 1997

POL 420.011 - INVENTORY AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF FIXED ASSETS (revision)

Clarified that the supply officer is designated as the inventory officer. Added that: (a) The information resources - technical support designee tags and tracks all computer systems; (b) employees must take reasonable precautions to ensure the safety of items assigned to them; (c) inventory teams actively look for equipment not tagged/listed on the inventory, and tag/add them; (d) the supply officer signs a written statement that the reconciliation is correct; if the reconciliation is not correct, the operations manager determines the appropriate course of action; (e) the inventory is performed by employees who are neither responsible, nor supervised by the person responsible, for the assets being inventoried; and (f) the supply officer may engrave a tag number directly onto an item if he/she determines it appropriate (i.e., if the tag most likely will not stay on the item, etc.).

Signed March 24, 1997

POL 420.014 - POINT OF SALE (POS) INVENTORY (revision)

Inventory listings are no longer printed and sent to regions; they are printed via the local area network. The supply control technician now performs duties at the headquarters office that were formerly performed by the stock clerk. The policy attachments were updated to coincide with new reports used by the lottery's on-line vendor.

Signed March 26, 1997

To receive a copy of any of these policy statements, contact Becky Zopolis, Washington State Lottery, P.O. Box 43000, Olympia, WA 98504-3000, phone (360) 586-1051, FAX (360) 586-6586.

July 14, 1997

Merritt D. Long