Missouri Lottery Commission Chair Excited About New Executive Director Hire

(Jefferson City) November 7th will be the first official day on the job for the new executive director of the Missouri Lottery.

It was announced this week that the Missouri Lottery Commission selected Lester Elder from a pool of around 30 applicants.

Lance Mayfield of Viburnum is the chairman of the state lottery commission.

He thinks the commission chose the right person to lead the lottery department.

Mayfield would like to see Elder and the commission tackle a topic that has been lightly debated the past couple years.

But so far, very few in the state legislature seem like they want to address the problem.

Mayfield says that issue is causing a loss in state revenue and quite possibly, Missouri Lottery revenue as well.

Mayfield also says the new executive director and the lottery commission will be attempting to repair a major problem that was brought upon the Missouri Lottery earlier this year by the state legislature.

On November 7th, Lester Elder will become the Missouri Lottery’s sixth executive director since lottery sales began in the state back in 1986.

He will replace May Scheve Reardon who had been the executive director since December of 2009.

Elder graduated from Macon High School and has a degree in criminal justice from Northeast Missouri State University in Kirksville.