Is this hypocritical? Private companies making money off gambling on US soil.....mmmmmmm. Your thoughts appreciated. Article from Chron.com.
Gov. Rick Perry is planning to tell the Legislature he wants to "sell" the state lottery to a private company when he delivers his State of the State speech next Tuesday, aides confirmed Friday.
But spokesman Robert Black is not elaborating on exactly what Perry means by selling the lottery, leaving unanswered questions about whether a sale would involve a lump-sum or annual payment.
The Texas Lottery already is highly privatized. Gtech Corp. runs the Lotto games and Scientific Games runs the scratch-off games.
Lottery critic Suzii Paynter, director of the Christian Life Commission, said lottery sales in Texas and other states have been declining in recent years.
"I cannot resist in pointing out that the Lottery has not always lived up to the promises that Texans expected when they approved it," Paynter said. "So, in that light, I don't blame the governor for wanting to sell it."
Paynter said so much of the lottery is in private control that it is difficult to see how the state would gain much by selling it.
"We're one of the most privatized lotteries in the country," Paynter said. "We'd be losing our annual revenue and trading it for a lump sum."
The lottery transfers about $1 billion a year to the state to help pay for public schools.
The Texas Lottery in fiscal 2006 had $3.8 billion in total sales and paid out $2.3 billion in prizes, said spokesman Bobby Heith.
Most of the remaining money was paid out to lottery retailers and operators.
Several other states are exploring the sale or long-term lease of their lotteries. Illinois is trying to sell its lottery for $10 billion. Indiana is exploring a long-term lease for $1 billion up front and $200 million a year. New Jersey and Michigan also are considering such sales.
If the Texas Lottery is sold to a private company or a consortium, that firm would take over complete lottery operations.
A total sale of the lottery also likely would require a state constitutional amendment. At present, the constitution allows only the state to operate a lottery, though it can contract with companies to run it.
Perry likely could avoid changing the constitution if the lottery is turned over to a private vendor on a long-term lease that involves a large up-front payment.
Such a lease would be similar to the contracting arrangement the Texas Department of Transportation is considering for its Trans-Texas Corridor toll road projects. Those have been controversial for a number of reasons, one of which is a non-competition clause sought by toll road operators
Such a clause in a lottery lease could make it difficult for the state to expand gambling to video lottery terminals at horse and dog tracks or full-scale casino gambling.
But Paynter said a total sale of the lottery to a private company might open the door for casino gambling by Indian tribes in Texas.
Dawn Nettles, who runs a newsletter for lottery players and is a frequent critic of the Texas Lottery, said the sale of the state lottery to a monopoly would be a mistake.
"They see the decline in lottery revenues, and they want to get the money now," she said.
r.g.ratcliffe@chron.com
Gov. Rick Perry is planning to tell the Legislature he wants to "sell" the state lottery to a private company when he delivers his State of the State speech next Tuesday, aides confirmed Friday.
But spokesman Robert Black is not elaborating on exactly what Perry means by selling the lottery, leaving unanswered questions about whether a sale would involve a lump-sum or annual payment.
The Texas Lottery already is highly privatized. Gtech Corp. runs the Lotto games and Scientific Games runs the scratch-off games.
Lottery critic Suzii Paynter, director of the Christian Life Commission, said lottery sales in Texas and other states have been declining in recent years.
"I cannot resist in pointing out that the Lottery has not always lived up to the promises that Texans expected when they approved it," Paynter said. "So, in that light, I don't blame the governor for wanting to sell it."
Paynter said so much of the lottery is in private control that it is difficult to see how the state would gain much by selling it.
"We're one of the most privatized lotteries in the country," Paynter said. "We'd be losing our annual revenue and trading it for a lump sum."
The lottery transfers about $1 billion a year to the state to help pay for public schools.
The Texas Lottery in fiscal 2006 had $3.8 billion in total sales and paid out $2.3 billion in prizes, said spokesman Bobby Heith.
Most of the remaining money was paid out to lottery retailers and operators.
Several other states are exploring the sale or long-term lease of their lotteries. Illinois is trying to sell its lottery for $10 billion. Indiana is exploring a long-term lease for $1 billion up front and $200 million a year. New Jersey and Michigan also are considering such sales.
If the Texas Lottery is sold to a private company or a consortium, that firm would take over complete lottery operations.
A total sale of the lottery also likely would require a state constitutional amendment. At present, the constitution allows only the state to operate a lottery, though it can contract with companies to run it.
Perry likely could avoid changing the constitution if the lottery is turned over to a private vendor on a long-term lease that involves a large up-front payment.
Such a lease would be similar to the contracting arrangement the Texas Department of Transportation is considering for its Trans-Texas Corridor toll road projects. Those have been controversial for a number of reasons, one of which is a non-competition clause sought by toll road operators
Such a clause in a lottery lease could make it difficult for the state to expand gambling to video lottery terminals at horse and dog tracks or full-scale casino gambling.
But Paynter said a total sale of the lottery to a private company might open the door for casino gambling by Indian tribes in Texas.
Dawn Nettles, who runs a newsletter for lottery players and is a frequent critic of the Texas Lottery, said the sale of the state lottery to a monopoly would be a mistake.
"They see the decline in lottery revenues, and they want to get the money now," she said.
r.g.ratcliffe@chron.com