Pa. Treasurer considers blocking move to private lottery operator

Jan 25, 2013, 8:39 am (7 comments)

Pennsylvania Lottery

HARRISBURG, Pa. — As more details emerge about the contract for private management of the Pennsylvania Lottery, the state treasurer says he's more concerned, not less, about the legality of the contract.

State Treasurer Rob McCord has previously indicated he'll use his authority to withhold payments to the private Lottery manager if he deems it necessary. And he says he's not heard anything to put his mind at ease.

"I haven't made the final decision yet, but right now I certainly am taking a look at this with increasing concern."

McCord has said he's concerned that adding Keno to the Lottery is an expansion of gaming, and that, he says, would require legislative approval. But, if he decides the contract is illegal, he's not likely to wait until Keno is launched.

"One of the concerns here is to try to stop waste before it happens. So, within the boundaries of our proper authorization, I would probably err on the side of trying to act early."

McCord says he's having conversations with Attorney General and fellow Democrat Kathleen Kane who is presently reviewing the legality of the contract.

CBS

Comments

Ronnie316

A government official wants to "stop waste before it happens"? Very interesting. Can that be done? 

What are the odds?

MADDOG10's avatarMADDOG10

Quote: Originally posted by Ronnie316 on Jan 25, 2013

A government official wants to "stop waste before it happens"? Very interesting. Can that be done? 

What are the odds?

blue clue

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by Ronnie316 on Jan 25, 2013

A government official wants to "stop waste before it happens"? Very interesting. Can that be done? 

What are the odds?

A clue that government officials do NOT want to stop government waste is when they use government waste as an excuse to do something.  You can be sure it is the union pressure — not government waste, and certainly not Keno — that has this person all suddenly concerned.

JezzVim

Corbin needs the kickback money for his defense of the Sandusky case the Atty Gen is going after his b*tt for.   What about the BILLIONS of dollars that goes to the Senior Citizen's programs???  They said it won't be affected, but the PROFITS is what runs the programs, and the new management will want those profits for their share holders? 

 

Mmmm.... if it sounds too good to be true, it isn't true.

 

Selling the PA lottery and State stores at this time is a very bad move.  Both are making profits, and they employ thousands of PA citizens.   Unions are not a bad thing.  If there were not for unions we wouldn't have the enjoyment of a 5 day work week, nor would there be OSHA (Occupational Safety and Hazard Administration) for the protection of workers.   How far down the drain does the adverage worker has to go before they wake up and smell the coffee?   To go back to the days when there wasn't a union?   Not many remembers the New York fire that killed hundreds of workers in that dress shop?  Or if you got hurt on the job that they fired you and no matter how badly you were hurt you had no recourse?   Historians will validate that unions made the next generation life a better one than their parents for a few generations, up until the firing of the Air Traffic Controllers.   Then it was all downhill.   Companies fired or laid off workers and the remaining workers had to pick up the slack for the same money they were making, longer hours and more pressure to get the jobs done.  Firing workers to rehire for the same job at a much reduced pay.  Starting salaries are well below what it was in the 1980's.   No training on the job anymore, you have to have a college degree for what was a high school diploma requirement.   Yet the companies are making record profits while the Mom's and Dad's have to take on a second job or even a third job to make ends meet.   Family life is suffering, the children are being raised by the TV and video games. 

 

Sorry to go off on a rant here, but the selling of the PA Lottery and the State Stores should be investigated fully.   Why wasn't it put on the voter's ballot this past election?  Have the citizens that would be affected by it vote on it?   What is the h*ll fire rush to sell when it is making BILLIONS of dollars in profit??   I just don't get it!!

Ronnie316

Quote: Originally posted by Todd on Jan 25, 2013

A clue that government officials do NOT want to stop government waste is when they use government waste as an excuse to do something.  You can be sure it is the union pressure — not government waste, and certainly not Keno — that has this person all suddenly concerned.

I Agree!Thanks for clearing that up..... I was really scratching my head over the keno comments. LOL

Ronnie316

Quote: Originally posted by JezzVim on Jan 25, 2013

Corbin needs the kickback money for his defense of the Sandusky case the Atty Gen is going after his b*tt for.   What about the BILLIONS of dollars that goes to the Senior Citizen's programs???  They said it won't be affected, but the PROFITS is what runs the programs, and the new management will want those profits for their share holders? 

 

Mmmm.... if it sounds too good to be true, it isn't true.

 

Selling the PA lottery and State stores at this time is a very bad move.  Both are making profits, and they employ thousands of PA citizens.   Unions are not a bad thing.  If there were not for unions we wouldn't have the enjoyment of a 5 day work week, nor would there be OSHA (Occupational Safety and Hazard Administration) for the protection of workers.   How far down the drain does the adverage worker has to go before they wake up and smell the coffee?   To go back to the days when there wasn't a union?   Not many remembers the New York fire that killed hundreds of workers in that dress shop?  Or if you got hurt on the job that they fired you and no matter how badly you were hurt you had no recourse?   Historians will validate that unions made the next generation life a better one than their parents for a few generations, up until the firing of the Air Traffic Controllers.   Then it was all downhill.   Companies fired or laid off workers and the remaining workers had to pick up the slack for the same money they were making, longer hours and more pressure to get the jobs done.  Firing workers to rehire for the same job at a much reduced pay.  Starting salaries are well below what it was in the 1980's.   No training on the job anymore, you have to have a college degree for what was a high school diploma requirement.   Yet the companies are making record profits while the Mom's and Dad's have to take on a second job or even a third job to make ends meet.   Family life is suffering, the children are being raised by the TV and video games. 

 

Sorry to go off on a rant here, but the selling of the PA Lottery and the State Stores should be investigated fully.   Why wasn't it put on the voter's ballot this past election?  Have the citizens that would be affected by it vote on it?   What is the h*ll fire rush to sell when it is making BILLIONS of dollars in profit??   I just don't get it!!

I think they should put Walmart in charge........What?

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by JezzVim on Jan 25, 2013

Corbin needs the kickback money for his defense of the Sandusky case the Atty Gen is going after his b*tt for.   What about the BILLIONS of dollars that goes to the Senior Citizen's programs???  They said it won't be affected, but the PROFITS is what runs the programs, and the new management will want those profits for their share holders? 

 

Mmmm.... if it sounds too good to be true, it isn't true.

 

Selling the PA lottery and State stores at this time is a very bad move.  Both are making profits, and they employ thousands of PA citizens.   Unions are not a bad thing.  If there were not for unions we wouldn't have the enjoyment of a 5 day work week, nor would there be OSHA (Occupational Safety and Hazard Administration) for the protection of workers.   How far down the drain does the adverage worker has to go before they wake up and smell the coffee?   To go back to the days when there wasn't a union?   Not many remembers the New York fire that killed hundreds of workers in that dress shop?  Or if you got hurt on the job that they fired you and no matter how badly you were hurt you had no recourse?   Historians will validate that unions made the next generation life a better one than their parents for a few generations, up until the firing of the Air Traffic Controllers.   Then it was all downhill.   Companies fired or laid off workers and the remaining workers had to pick up the slack for the same money they were making, longer hours and more pressure to get the jobs done.  Firing workers to rehire for the same job at a much reduced pay.  Starting salaries are well below what it was in the 1980's.   No training on the job anymore, you have to have a college degree for what was a high school diploma requirement.   Yet the companies are making record profits while the Mom's and Dad's have to take on a second job or even a third job to make ends meet.   Family life is suffering, the children are being raised by the TV and video games. 

 

Sorry to go off on a rant here, but the selling of the PA Lottery and the State Stores should be investigated fully.   Why wasn't it put on the voter's ballot this past election?  Have the citizens that would be affected by it vote on it?   What is the h*ll fire rush to sell when it is making BILLIONS of dollars in profit??   I just don't get it!!

When you say that they are "selling the lottery", are you aware that they are NOT selling the lottery?

They are talking about hiring a company to run it for them, not sell it.  The state will still get all the proceeds, but instead of paying government employees to run it, they will pay a private company, which supposedly can run it cheaper than government employees could.

That last point is really the only debatable point:  can a private company run the lottery cheaper and more efficiently than having the government run the lottery itself.  I'm not taking a stance on this yet, since it hasn't really be proven in the industry yet (at least to my satisfaction), but I have an open mind about it.

It's like if you owned a store, and you could choose to own the store AND manage it, or you could own the store and hire a store manager to run it for you.  The Pennsylvania Lottery currently owns the lottery AND manages it, but if they "privatize" the lottery, they will own the lottery but hire another company to run it.

Hopefully that clears up the situation a bit.  Sometimes these articles tend to gloss over the facts, depending on whether the article author supports unions or not.  (So there are political issues that affect the way people write these articles.)

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