Authority: Title 58.1 Chapter 40, Code of Virginia.

A. The amounts for the State Lottery Management Services are estimated at $63,100,093 the first year and $68,018,076 the second year.

B. Appropriations for the Lottery Department may be transferred to this Item from any unexpended amounts in Item C-137, Chapter 966, Acts of Assembly of 1994.

C. Out of the amounts for State Lottery Management Services shall be paid:

1. Reimbursement for compensation and reasonable expenses of the members of the State Lottery Board in the performance of their duties, as provided in § 2.1-20.3, Code of Virginia.

2. The total costs for the operation and administration of the state lottery, pursuant to § 58.1-4022, Code of Virginia.

D. There is hereby appropriated from affected funds in the state treasury, for payment of prizes awarded by the state lottery and of commissions to lottery sales agents, in accordance with law, a sum sufficent.

E. Consistent with § 58.1-4020, Code of Virginia, as amended by the 1996 General Assembly (HB 548), on or about July 1, 1996, the State Lottery Department shall transfer to the Unclaimed Property Trust Fund an amount estimated at $6,102,000, which represents the estimated current monetary value of unclaimed Lotto prizes owing to such Fund.

F.1. As a condition of the appropriation in this item, effective April 1, 1998, the State Lottery Board and State Lottery Department shall establish a nine-month pilot project, consisting of new lottery tickets or shares game in order to determine whether the funds generated, coupled with other funds, will be sufficient to make construction of a major league baseball stadium in Virginia feasible. The purpose of the pilot project shall be to determine whether the moneys estimated to be placed in the State Lottery Fund during fiscal years 1998 and 1999, pursuant to § 58.1-4022, Code of Virginia, will increase with the addition of a baseball-oriented lottery tickets or shares game.

2. The pilot project shall not include either Keno or Video Lottery type gaming.

3. Prior to April 1, 1998, the State Lottery Department shall submit a report on its plans for implementing the pilot project to the Chairmen of the House Appropriations and the House and Senate Finance Committees, and to the members of the Joint Subcommittee Studying Financing Options for Constructing a Baseball Stadium in Virginia. The Lottery Department shall file subsequent progress reports on the project by December 1, 1998.

4. In the event that, having implemented the pilot project, deposits to the State Lottery Fund for fiscal years 1998 and 1999 exceed the official revenue estimate, the Director shall report such amount to the Chairmen of the House Appropriations and the House and Senate Finance Committees.

5. Nothing in this section shall reduce or otherwise affect the amount of prize payments, vendor compensation, or limitation on administrative expense which are otherwise set forth by law regarding Lottery gaming.