TN Lottery CEO announces retirement weeks after lawmakers pass bill targeting board, salary info

Tennessee Education Lottery CEO Rebecca Paul will retire from her position at the end of 2026, ending her tenure almost 23 years after she helped launch the state’s program. 

Paul took the position as head of the state lottery before its launch, after holding a similar role in Georgia and Florida. She is one of the highest-paid state employees, earning $650,000 a year, a salary that has drawn scrutiny from lawmakers since she was first hired.

The lottery was Tennessee’s first legalized form of gambling and was created through a constitutional amendment that specifically designated the revenue from the sale of scratch-offs and lottery tickets to fund college scholarships. 

For much of its history, lottery revenue increased, allowing higher education officials to keep expanding the program. But in 2019, lawmakers legalized sports gambling. Initially, sports gambling money went to the lottery education fund, but in 2025 lawmakers diverted that revenue towards schools as part of the deal to pass private school vouchers.

Lottery revenue then began to fall.

During a budget hearing held earlier this year, Don Bruce, a professor with the University of Tennessee’s Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research, told a state Senate finance committee that legalized sports betting was likely reducing some of the Lottery’s revenue. 

The fall in revenue and Paul’s salary led to new scrutiny this year by Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, a Crossville Republican. He led a successful effort to pass legislation to reset the lottery board and make Paul’s compensation package a public record.

The previous lottery board was appointed by the governor. The new lottery board grants three appointments to Sexton, the Senate Speaker and the governor.

“[Paul] has served Tennessee with distinction, and her leadership of the Tennessee Education Lottery has expanded opportunity for students across our state,” said Gov. Bill Lee in a news release.

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Sexton has clashed with Paul and lottery officials in the past

Paul and the lottery have been targets of Sexton since he became Speaker in 2019, the same year the lottery took oversight control of the state’s newly legalized sports betting market.  

In 2020, Sexton and several other lawmakers complained that the Lottery was taking too long to launch sports betting.

Then, in 2021, Sexton had a private confrontation with Lottery board members, during which he “made it clear he was not happy” that the board had suspended a sports gambling company, Action 247, after a lengthy lottery investigation. 

Action was founded by the owners of the payday lender Advance Financial, which is one of the largest contributors to Sexton’s campaign account and political action committee.

An investigation by the Lookout also found Sexton’s campaign manager owned a stake in Action.

At the end of the 2021 legislative session, Sexton helped usher legislation to remove the Lottery’s oversight of sports betting. 

Sexton previously told the Lookout in a statement that the decision to remove lottery oversight of sports gambling was a policy decision.