New Lottery Chief Is Considered : Revenue: Gov.-elect Wilson met with the head of Florida’s game but did not offer her a job. California’s program is under fire.

Under pressure to reshape California’s much-criticized state lottery, Gov.-elect Pete Wilson is considering replacing the current director with the highly regarded chief of Florida’s successful state-run numbers game, The Times has learned.

Rebecca Paul, the Florida Lottery secretary who will be out of a job Jan. 8 because of a change in administrations in that state, confirmed Friday that she was invited to California Dec. 20 for an interview with Wilson and also spent time discussing the state’s lottery with Director Chon Gutierrez.

Paul has been widely praised for her performance in starting Florida’s lottery and turning it into what may soon become the highest-grossing state lottery in the country. So far this fiscal year, the Florida game is running neck-and-neck in revenue with California’s lottery among a population that is far less than half of this state’s 30 million.

Paul’s formula for success--an aggressive and clearly planned marketing strategy, a variety of games and the appearance of regular, large, winnable prizes--are the very things for which the California Lottery has been criticized as lacking.

An articulate former Miss Indiana who describes herself as “charmingly aggressive,” Paul said running the California Lottery would be a “fascinating challenge.” But she added that she is “weighing a whole wide range of options” and isn’t sure what the future holds for her.

There may be some uncertainty on the California end as well. Wilson aides refused to discuss the governor-elect’s plans for the lottery except to say that he is reviewing the program along with every other aspect of state government as part of his transition to power.

They also declined to comment on speculation in the Capitol that Wilson is about to “clean house” at the lottery, replacing many if not all of the 18 executives and staff members who are not protected by Civil Service rules.

“I’m not in a position to tell you about any personnel decisions,” said Otto Bos, Wilson’s director of communications and public affairs.

One complication may be that Wilson is reluctant to demote the current director, Gutierrez, who is one of the highest-ranking Latinos in state government. Gutierrez, known as a trouble-shooter for outgoing Gov. George Deukmejian, is considered an able administrator.

In an interview, Gutierrez said he has “expressed a willingness” to serve the Wilson Administration either as lottery director or in some other role but has not yet been informed of his fate. He said he is “not surprised” that Wilson is getting pressure to shake up the program’s administration.

“I would expect the new governor is getting input from a lot of different sources,” Gutierrez said.

The 5-year-old California Lottery has had its ups and downs. Although it is rivaled now by Florida, California’s game has been the largest in North America and the fifth biggest in the world. Since 1985 it has created nearly 600 millionaires, distributed more than $5 billion in prizes and provided $4 billion for schools.

But revenues on its major games are flat or declining and state legislators have complained that recent changes have too greatly heightened the odds of losing for Lotto players. In addition, the small grocery stores and supermarkets that sell most of the lottery tickets for the state have been frustrated by the actions of Gutierrez and the lottery commission.

Donald Beaver, lobbyist for the California Grocers Assn., said the group, which supported Wilson during the gubernatorial campaign, wrote to him after the election to express dissatisfaction with the way the lottery has been run. Beaver said his clients believe the state has been heavy-handed in its decision-making and unwilling to listen to expertise the grocers have in marketing and other aspects of running a business.

“Our industry has a lot of marketing and merchandising people, and we have offered to have them sit down with the lottery people,” Beaver said. “But it’s been the lottery’s thinking from Day 1 that they’re going to run the lottery and they’re going to do it their way.”

Beaver said the lottery seems to lack a clear mission or long-term strategy. “We need a program; we need a plan,” he said.

Paul, Florida’s lottery secretary, would not criticize California’s program or Gutierrez. But her comments about Florida’s success dovetail with some of the criticisms of the California Lottery.

“We have very aggressive market research; we offer a multitude of products, and our image is glitzy and glamorous,” she said. “It’s accepted across all economic classes. We’ve been successful at marketing our products to a wide range of folks.

“I don’t know who’s direction it was to do what California did,” she added. “You can’t sit in Florida and second-guess what California did unless you’re in their shoes.”

Paul, 41, who was named lottery executive of the year last year by Gaming and Wagering Magazine, was director of the Illinois lottery from 1985 until 1987. Before that, she was a jack-of-all-trades--doing a range of jobs from selling commercials to appearing on camera to report the weather--for an NBC television affiliate in Springfield and served as a Republican Party official.

She went to Florida to start that state’s lottery in 1987 and began ticket sales six months later, earning a $10,000 bonus for meeting the Legislature’s deadline for getting the game up and running. Later, she won praise for breaking the jinx that usually results in a drop in revenue in a lottery’s second year. Florida’s sales climbed $400 million.

“We’ve broken virtually every record that exists anywhere in the world,” she said.

That wasn’t good enough for Gov.-elect Lawton Chiles, a Democrat, who stuck with his campaign promise to dump Paul even though several Florida newspapers urged him in editorials to retain the Republican director. Chiles said he was uncomfortable with the lottery’s high profile and said he wants to try to have a low-key, low-pressure game even while increasing the amount of money the lottery generates for education.

Florida’s lame-duck Gov. Bob Martinez reportedly contacted Wilson on Paul’s behalf and may have been responsible for their meeting shortly before Christmas.

Paul said she was “extremely impressed” with Wilson after their 45-minute session. But she added that he did not offer her a job and she has not heard from the incoming Administration since that meeting.