Friction at the Arkansas Lottery: A firing and hushup of a $2 million winner ERIC HAGLER Persistent reports about unhappiness in the ranks about new Arkansas Lottery director Eric Hagler burst into the open yesterday. Advertisement ERIC HAGLER: Making news at the Arkansas Lottery. I learned Friday about a disagreement over his decision not to release to the public the names of winners of $2 million in a Powerball drawing in September. And today, Michael Wickline of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that Hagler had fired the lottery’s chief legal counsel, Michael Helms, for reasons not yet revealed. Advertisement Bishop Woosley, quietly was eased out to make room for a Hutchinson administration pick. Hagler, who was practicing law in California, had no lottery experience but he knew Governor Hutchinson from time working in Arkansas and his father, a Little Rock physician, is a friend of Larry Walther, head of Finance and Administration, which includes the Lottery under its umbrella.