Lottery Director resigns day after sports betting goes live
West Virginia‘s governor, Jim Justice announced late Friday that he had appointed Doug Buffington, the deputy secretary for the West Virginia Secretary of Revenue, to serve as acting lottery director following the unexpected resignation of West Virginia Lottery chief Alan Larrick just a day after the state went live with legalised sports betting.
The West Virginia Lottery Commission oversees and regulates all games, limited video lottery, racetrack video lottery, racetrack table games, and casino gaming…and now sports betting in the state as well.
Governor Justice said that Larrick had done an excellent job since his appointment in January 2017 and that he would be missed.
No reasons were available regarding the resignation, which appeared to take many government officials by surprise over the weekend, including the state Department of Revenue, which oversees the Lottery Commission.
“I had not heard that, I had no idea,” said Kathy Torlone, an executive assistant to Secretary Dave Hardy. “Nobody in this office had heard anything.”