Celebrating 30 years of Georgia Lottery: Hosts look back at history, helping educate students

For those who can remember, Severe Weather Team 2 Chief Meteorologist Emeritus Glenn Burns actually was the first host of the lottery.

He hosted the drawings for 16 years and said it was an honor to be part of a team benefitting such an important cause.

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Burns recently caught up with the rest of the Georgia Lottery hosts and how they say the drawings have made winners out of players and Georgia students.

“It has been an awesome, awesome experience. I’ve enjoyed it so very much,” Rene Miller said. “Not only the impact that it makes on the HOPE Scholarship recipients, but it also has an opportunity to run generationally because some parents have received the HOPE Scholarship and now their kids are receiving the HOPE scholarship.”

“The Georgia Lottery has had an incredible impact on the state of Georgia over the last 30 years. And the most important, of course, is our beneficiary, our students,” Gretchen Corbin said.

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Carol Blackmon loves the lottery so much that she returned after having her son and is still hosting.

“It’s like a win win. It’s a win for those that play. You’ve got the potential to win. But then, of course, for education, it goes to help the minds of those that are the little ones and even those that are, you know, adults or those that are young adults going to college.”

John Crow won his spot during an exciting talent search.

“I definitely felt like I won the lottery.”