The State : Lottery Start Sept. 27 Is ‘Conceivable’

For the first time, lottery officials revealed a specific date--Sept. 27--as “conceivable” for the start of the long-delayed California games. Deputy Lottery Director Chon Gutierrez said that a small army of workers should have all systems in the nation’s biggest lottery, including ticket distribution and sales, ready to test by Sept. 18-20. “If all our plans work . . . and if everything converges by the 20th, with a week of testing, we’re conceivably looking at the 27th” to begin selling $1 tickets, said Gutierrez, a Deukmejian Administration trouble-shooter. “Even with a few minor hitches, California conceivably will have a lottery the last week in September or the first week in October,” he said.