... a sale or lease of the lottery pretty much guarantees that there will be an operating entity looking to aggressively "grow" the business. That's not something to look forward to. It's bad enough the state is pretty much forced to be in the gambling business, but compared to other states, Vermont's marketing of its lottery games is low key. There is no incentive for the private operator to encourage people to "play responsibly." It's in their best interests to get people to blow the rent money on scratch tickets. Under private operation, the new owner will be pushing business to the max.
Brattleboro Reformer
It is almost touching, the faith that some people have in government; their serene conviction that it will do the right thing and act in the public interest. The Reformer's editors seem to be arguing that the state knows exactly how mendacious to be when promoting the lottery; that it can calibrate just the perfect level of deceitfulness in lottery ads so as to insure that the people who fall for the pitch will play responsibly.
One suspects, on the evidence of history, that the people who run the lottery are interested chiefly in their own job security, pay raises, and such. Self-interest, it is called. We recommend that the editors of the Reformer take a drive down to Boston and learn a little about the something called "The Big Dig," for a lesson in how government works.
While I'm not a gambler myself and I'm not too keen on the state's encoragement to gamble now, I'm not sure this leasing arangement as I've heard it is the best deal for VT.
Roughly one $50 Million payment, $20 Million/year for 40 years, and that's it? The lottery sells over a $100 Million now and nets a roughly 20% profit, which the state keeps all of. Do you really think that the lottery will be worth anywhere near that amount 40 years from now?
This sounds like a great deal for whomever gets the lease (big profits for them) and a simple way that Jimmy D. can say that he's done something about the way that VT spends money on it's schools. It's another one-time fix (like the sales tax hike he wanted a while ago that we're stuck with now) that will do nothing in the long-term.
No other state has apparently privatized it's lottery yet. I wonder why?
Posted by: Mister Guy | January 16, 2008 at 09:14 PM