8A
Thursday, December 8, 1994
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Prize redemption easier for scratch lottery
New system allows winners to redeem cash at many stores
By James Evans
Kansan staff writer
The Kansas Lottery is trying to make its instant games a little more instant for players from KU and around the state.
That is if you beat the odds and win, of course.
Greg Ziemak, executive director of the Kansas Lottery, said that prizes for winning scratch tickets could now be redeemed at any location where Kansas Lottery tickets were
sold. Previously, winners had to redeem their tickets at the location where they purchased them.
The new lottery tickets are scanned through a bar code reader that tells the retailer how much to pay the player, eliminating any questions as to whether a ticket is a winner. The system is available at 1,894 lottery retailers around Kansas.
Five instant games are available now, and two new games will be available next week for the system. A winner can redeem up to $590 at the retail store for a winning ticket. Prizes more than $590 must still be redeemed at the Kansas Lottery offices in Topeka.
"Before, for example, if you bought a ticket on I-70 in Topeka and you drove to Wichita and found out you
won, you would have to drive back to Topeka to redeem your prize," Ziemak said.
He said the new "Instant Ticket Validation System" was needed to help improve instant games for players.
"We've been selling instant tickets the same way since 1987," Ziemak said. "We weren't offering our winners leeway to redeem their tickets easily."
The system was formally announced yesterday to the public, but the system was installed in lottery retailers two weeks ago and tested to make sure they worked properly. Ziemak said that the system took about nine months to develop and install at all lottery retail outlets.
Jade Smith, an employee at Kwik
Jade, 3440 West Sixth St., said the
new system was slower to work with, but was more accurate.
"Most people are still bringing in tickets that they bought at our store," Smith said. He said the store sold between $100 to $200 in instant tickets daily. Smith also said the store redeemed between 20 and 30 instant prizes a day.
Bryan Thomas, Newfield, New Jersey, sophomore, who said he buys two or three instant tickets every time he goes grocery shopping, said that the new system would make playing the lottery more convenient.
"It would save time in returning the tickets," Thomas said. "I would be able to return the ticket to the most convenient location."
Instructor gives students money to invest with
The Associated Press
Students in an investment class at the University of Kansas are losing their teacher's money — but he doesn't mind.
Instructor Kent McCarthy, a Wall Street investor, donated $250,000 to the KU Endowment Association to teach students how to invest.
McCarthy teaches a new investment course with 55 graduate students. So far this year, his class at the University of Kansas Regents Center in Overhand Park has lost 11 percent on its share of the portfolio, and his
class in Lawrence has lost 14 percent.
"The biggest positive (result) is how much better the students are about analyzing these companies than they think they are," said McCarthy, who managed $1 billion in investments while working fulltime for the investment firm, Goldman Sachs.
He recently grilled students on fluctuations in the stock value of the No. 3 U.S. automaker, Chrysler, and Intel, which makes the Pentium computer chip.
"Technically, we're losing the university's money," said Paul Melland, a
Lawrence student pursuing a master's in business administration.
But he and his investing partners, Gennadiy Zalko of Moscow, Ming Hsu of Taiwan and Frank Schmuck of Olathe don't worry about McCarthy's reaction. They're the only group in the class making money.
McCarthy, 36, earned a business degree in 1980 at Kansas, and later earned an MBA from Stanford University. He moved from San Francisco to Kansas City to teach the course and cut his money-management obligations at Goldman Sachs to $50 million.
He built the students' portfolio up to $280,000 before $54,000 was divided among small groups in both classes. Each group got $6,000 to make short-term trades. The rest is in long-term investments for safe keeping. Despite the students' losses, the fund has grown.
McCarthy said he hopes students will learn about Wall Street, investment styles, managing money and operating big companies. He also has stock analysts, corporate CEOs and professors lecture to the classes.
Former KU student gets on info highway
By Nathan Olson
Kensan staff writer
A former KU student has turned part of the information superhighway into a potentially profitable business.
Jeff Walker, Topeka resident, began the Great America Bulletin Board Service three weeks ago. The BBS, which allows people to communicate via their computer modems, is based in Lecompton, making it a local call for both Lawrence and Topeka residents.
The system has 133 users. About 20 of them are KU students, Walker said. The bulletin board includes games, text files and "chat" areas.
Walker began thinking about the bulletin board about a year ago.
"I enjoyed using BBSs," he said. "My system is a result of wanting to create the perfect BBS."
As the system's operator, or syssp, he spends about 10 hours a day working on the system, Walker said.
"I make sure it runs smoothly," he said. "I make menu changes, answer questions and look at the compatibility between programs."
Walker said he started the bulletin board with an initial investment of $10,000.
"I figure I'll make up the cost in about a year," he said.
The cost for the board is 25 cents an hour. The first 10 hours are free.
Walker said that the system currently included electronic mail, or e-mail, and service through Majornet, a service connecting bulletin board services around the country.
Matt Flickner, Larned sophomore, said he heard about the bulletin board from Walker.
"I hope to have some Internet services up by the end of this month," Walker said. "Td like to have some Usenet News groups available and Internet e-mail."
Through Internet e-mail, users would be able to communicate with any e-mail account—not just those with accounts on bulletin boards.
"I spend most of my time talking to other users," he said.
Rock Chalk Revue and Wheat Meet could be getting competition
Flickner estimated that he spent five to 10 hours a week on the bulletin board.
"I like the fact that sometimes there aren't many users," he said. "It's nice to have smaller discussions."
"It's more work than I expected," he said. "It's easy to be on the board chatting or playing a game when you should be doing something else."
Walker said the experience had been rewarding.
Dance philanthropy has been successful at other universities
By Ashley Miller Kansan staff writer
Dance Marathon, a philanthropy at Penn State University that has raised more than $6 million since it started in 1977, may be coming to the University of Kansas.
director of student life and the greek organization adviser at Penn State.
"It's the nation's largest in terms of money," said Rick Funk, assistant
Funk said the Dance Marathon at Penn State benefited the Four Diamonds Fund at Penn State's Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pa. The money is used for children's cancer research.
Penn State usually has about 275 couples participate in the 48-hour dance-off, he said. Student organizations solicit money from local businesses, which agree to donate a certain amount of money for every hour that a couple dances.
Funk said the Children's Miracle
Network, which used to benefit from the Dance Marathon at Penn State, a few years ago approached the university about using the idea on other college campuses.
Now, universities in Florida, Iowa Indiana, Oklahoma, Texas, North Carolina, Georgia and Kansas have either started Dance Marathon or are considering doing so.
The Children's Miracle Network also approached KU last year about starting Dance Marathon at the University, said Bill Nelson, assistant director of the Organizations and Activities Center and coordinator for greek activities.
Nelson said student representatives from the Interfraternity Council and the KU Panhellenic Association attended the Association of Fraternity Advisers and National Interfraternity Council Annual Meeting in Houston to discuss Dance Marathon.
However, he said there were no definite plans to bring the philanthropy to KU.
"What we're doing is trying to figure out from our end how to approach it," he said. "It's important to get the entire student body involved."
Although the marathon would be sponsored by IFC and Panhellenic,
Nelson said that if Dance Marathon came to KU, it would be a campuswide event like the marathon at Penn State.
"Personally, I'd like to see it come,
but it's a major undertaking," he said.
"It may not happen."
Nelson said that IFC and Panhel lenic plan to meet with other student organizations next semester to discuss Dance Marathon.
Children's Miracle Network also probably will visit KU next semester and give a presentation about Dance Marathon to IFC and Panhellenic, Nelson said.
One of the problems IFC and Panhellenic will have to address in discussing Dance Marathon is its effect on other large philanthropies at KU, such as Rock Chalk Reve and Wheat Meet, said Melissa Smith, president of Panhellenic.
"We don't want to get into a situation where Dance Marathon takes over because those are successful," Smith said.
Smith said IFC and Panhellenic were considering Student Senate as a possible co-sponsor of Dance Marathon.
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