Rebecca Paul (lottery official)
{{Short description|American lottery official}}
Rebecca Paul (born Feb 1949 as Rebecca Sue Graham) is currently the President and CEO of the Tennessee Lottery.{{Cite news |date=2003-10-20 |title=Paul's lottery past: rocky beginnings, happier endings |pages=[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112099802/the-tennessean/],[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112099817/] |work=The Tennessean |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112099802/the-tennessean/ |access-date=2022-10-27}} Prior to assuming her current position in 2003, Paul gained national fame within the lottery community for operating lotteries in Illinois, Florida,{{Cite news |date=1987-11-29 |title=Cashing In |pages=[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112099700/the-orlando-sentinel/],[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112099740/],[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112099751/] |work=The Orlando Sentinel |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112099700/the-orlando-sentinel/ |access-date=2022-10-27}} and Georgia.
In 1986 Florida voters elected Republican Bob Martinez as governor, and at the same time, voted in favor of establishing a state lottery to aid education. The new governor recruited Paul as the state's first Lottery Secretary, due largely to her reputation for having turned the Illinois lottery from a moribund operation into one of the most successful lotteries in the United States. Paul was then brought to Georgia for the same purpose in 1993, after Georgia voted to start up a lottery as well.
Paul was already the highest paid lottery official in the United States, prior to being recruited to Tennessee with an even larger compensation package.{{cite web |url=http://www.tnlottery.com/newsroom/newsitem.aspx?nid=12&yr=2003 |title=Tennessee Lottery |website=www.tnlottery.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040214115934/http://tnlottery.com/newsroom/newsitem.aspx?nid=12&yr=2003 |archive-date=2004-02-14}} She is widely regarded as the pre-eminent lottery official in the United States,{{cite web |url=http://www.tnlottery.com/newsroom/newsitem.aspx?nid=12&yr=2003 |title=Tennessee Lottery |website=www.tnlottery.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040214115934/http://tnlottery.com/newsroom/newsitem.aspx?nid=12&yr=2003 |archive-date=2004-02-14}} being described by one state legislator as the "Michael Jordan" of lotteries.{{Cite news |last=Wissner |first=Sheila |date=19 October 2003 |title=Is Rebecca Paul as good as they say? |pages=A.1 |work=The Tennessean; Nashville, Tenn. [Nashville, Tenn] |via=ProQuest}}
In 2022 she was elected president of the World Lottery Association.{{Cite web |title=Rebecca Paul elected WLA President |url=https://womeninlotteryleadership.com/index.php/9-articles/49-rebecca-paul-hargrove-elected-wla-president |access-date=2022-11-10 |website=womeninlotteryleadership.com}}{{Cite web |date=October 23, 2002 |title=Congratulations to Rebecca Paul for your re-election to President of the World Lottery Association |url=https://publicgaming.com/news-categories/lottery/10361-congratulations-to-rebecca-paul-for-your-re-election-to-president-of-the-world-lottery-association |access-date=2022-11-10 |website=publicgaming.com}}
Pre-lottery years and personal life
Paul, a native of Indianapolis, Indiana, is an alumna of Butler University,{{Cite news |last=Stodghill |first=Ron |date=2007-11-18 |title=The Lottery Industry's Own Powerball |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/business/18queen.html |access-date=2022-11-10 |issn=0362-4331}} where she earned a BS degree (1970) and an MS degree (1975) from the College of Education.
Paul was selected as Miss Indiana 1972, and was the fourth runner-up in the 1973 Miss America Pageant, losing to Terry Anne Meeuwsen (best known as co-host of The 700 Club). After her pageant days, Paul was hired as a "weather girl" at a station in Indianapolis. She married Terry Paul, a construction executive and 1968 graduate of Butler University, and in 1977, when he took a new position in Illinois, she was hired at WICS, the then-NBC affiliate in Springfield, Illinois. While living in the state capital, Paul became involved with Republican party politics, rising to the position of party co-chair, before being tapped to run the Illinois Lottery.
In 1999, while Paul was living in Atlanta and running that state's lottery, her husband died. When she moved to Tennessee, she met state legislator Jere Hargrove, who was a Democratic member of the Tennessee House of Representatives. Hargrove did not seek re-election in 2006, and the day after the election, on November 8, 2006, Hargrove and Paul were married in 2006 by Governor Phil Bredesen in the governor's mansion.{{Cite web |date=April 2, 2007 |title=Rebecca Paul Hargrove: Former newswoman cashes in on lottery career |url=http://www.lotterypost.com/news/153890.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713232909/https://www.lotterypost.com/news/153890 |archive-date=July 13, 2011 |access-date=2022-11-10 |website=Lottery Post |language=en}} She and Hargrove were divorced in 2021.
References
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{{Indiana Pageant Winners}}
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Category:Tennessee Republicans
Category:Women in Tennessee politics
Category:Women in Illinois politics
Category:People from Springfield, Illinois
Category:Miss America Preliminary Swimsuit winners
Category:People from Indianapolis