Section 50-27-25. Confidentiality of information; investigations; supervision and inspections; reports of suspected violations; assistance in investigation of violations

   (a) Except as authorized in this chapter, the corporation is subject to the provisions of Article 4 of Chapter 18 of this title and Chapter 14 of this title. The corporation is specifically authorized to determine which information relating to the operation of the lottery is confidential. Such information includes trade secrets; security measures, systems, or procedures; security reports; information concerning bids or other contractual data, the disclosure of which would impair the efforts of the corporation to contract for goods or services on favorable terms; employee personnel information unrelated to compensation, duties, qualifications, or responsibilities; and information obtained pursuant to investigations which is otherwise confidential. Information deemed confidential pursuant to this Code section is exempt from the provisions of Article 4 of Chapter 18 of this title. Meetings or portions of meetings devoted to discussing information deemed confidential pursuant to this Code section are exempt from Chapter 14 of this title.

(b) The corporation shall perform full criminal background investigations prior to the execution of any vendor contract.

(c) The corporation or its authorized agent shall:

   (1) Conduct criminal background investigations and credit investigations on all potential retailers;

   (2) Supervise ticket or share validation and lottery drawings;

   (3) Inspect at times determined solely by the corporation the facilities of any vendor or lottery retailer in order to determine the integrity of the vendor's product or the operations of the retailer in order to determine whether the vendor or the retailer is in compliance with its contract;

   (4) Report any suspected violations of this chapter to the appropriate district attorney or the Attorney General and to any law enforcement agencies having jurisdiction over the violation; and

   (5) Upon request, provide assistance to any district attorney, the Attorney General, or a law enforcement agency investigating a violation of this chapter.

Code 1981, § 50-27-25, enacted by Ga. L. 1992, p. 3173, § 2.