Nevada panel passes lottery proposal
Over the opposition of two major gaming corporations, an Assembly committee voted 8-5 Thursday to let voters decide whether to legalize a state lottery.
All Democrats on the Assembly Constitutional Amendments Committee backed Assembly Joint Resolution 5, while all five Republicans opposed it.
Passage of the resolution in the committee is the first step in a long process before Nevada would join 42 other states in having a state lottery. The measure needs approval by both houses of the Legi ...
Mar 17, 2007, 1:42 am - - Lottery News forum
N.M. Senate votes to shift more lottery funds to scholarships
The New Mexico State Senate voted 39-1 Tuesday to ensure that more proceeds from the New Mexico Lottery go toward the scholarship fund and less go toward administration.
Senate Bill 364 would require that at least 27 percent of revenue from lottery sales go toward scholarships starting July 1, and then at least 30 percent starting Jan. 1, 2009. Current law requiring that at least 50 percent of revenue go toward prizes will remain in effect.
The bill comes on the heels of a report last fall ...
Feb 28, 2007, 10:27 am - - Lottery News forum
N.C. Gov. calls for shift of lottery funds
Easley wants to take from scholarships and give to pre-K program
Gov. Mike Easley's spending plan for next year would shift profits from the N.C. Lottery toward a pre-kindergarten program at the expense of school construction and scholarships.
Easley has asked legislators to change the law so that he can earmark more money for the More at Four program, which prepares at-risk 4-year-old children for school. Easley wants to add 10,000 spaces in the program, which currently serves more than 1 ...
Feb 28, 2007, 9:54 am - - Lottery News forum
Indiana Senate approves lottery sell-off
Administration officials worked the back of the Senate chamber Tuesday and managed to secure just enough support to pass Gov. Mitch Daniels' plan to privatize the Hoosier Lottery.
The 27-20 vote comes from a GOP-controlled chamber that is far friendlier to the governor's plans than the Democratic-held House, where Senate Bill 577 heads next.
The legislation authorizes the state to enter into a contract with a private operator to run the lottery for the next 30 years.
In exchange, the st ...
Feb 28, 2007, 9:06 am - - Lottery News forum
Mass. Rep. says lottery funds should go to areas with highest sales
Lynn is one of the Massachusetts State Lottery's sales hotspots.
Yet while Lynn residents spend $85 million a year on tickets and games, the old industrial city gets back just $15 million a year from a Lottery-financed state aid program.
State Rep. Steven Walsh (D-Lynn) said it is this imbalance that drove him to file legislation that could revamp the way Lottery proceeds are doled out to cities and towns.
Walsh's bill calls for a commission to explore whether the current formula used t ...
Feb 28, 2007, 8:38 am - - Lottery News forum
Indiana Lottery sell-off advances in state Senate
Correction: This story originally identified Kentucky as the state selling off its lottery. We apologize for the error.
A Senate committee approved legislation yesterday to privatize the Hoosier Lottery after university officials said they needed the money it would generate to attract top researchers and boost life sciences.
We believe this bill is a difference maker, said Purdue University President Martin Jischke.
Senate Bill 577 passed 7-5 largely along party lines, with Republi ...
Feb 21, 2007, 8:11 am - - Lottery News forum
Will Maryland sell off its lottery?
With a huge cash crunch on the horizon and soaring demands for school construction, new roads and mass transit, some Maryland lawmakers are talking up the idea of selling one of the state's most valuable assets: the lottery.
The idea has grown popular since the governor of Illinois proposed doing the same thing last year. The governors of Indiana and Texas have suggested similar moves, and discussions of the idea are taking place in Michigan and New Jersey.
Maryland faces a gap of $1.3 bil ...
Feb 15, 2007, 12:15 pm - - Lottery News forum
GOP legislators question math in Texas lottery-sale plan
Texas Gov. Rick Perry's proposal to sell off the state lottery to fund cancer research and health insurance was met with skepticism Tuesday from a number of key Republican lawmakers who said the numbers don't add up.
I don't know anyone who's supporting it, said Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, who chairs the powerful House Appropriations Committee. I'd give it only a 10 percent chance of passing.
In an e-mail, Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, who heads the Senate State Affairs Committee, sa ...
Feb 9, 2007, 8:15 pm - - Lottery News forum
Tenn. legislator no longer pursuing national lottery
Idea had no support from House Democrat leaders
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., said Tuesday that he has abandoned the idea of sponsoring a bill to create a national lottery, saying it had little support from his party leaders, and would take money from the hands of Tennesseans.
Cohen suggested just after his November election that he might pursue the idea after his lengthy and ultimately successful effort to get a Tennessee Lottery signed into law. But his first discussions with House Dem ...
Feb 7, 2007, 12:09 pm - - Lottery News forum
Wyoming lottery bill killed once again
Casper resident Larry Griffith thought surely this was the year for Wyoming to finally join a multi-state lottery.
Griffith has been buying Nebraska lottery tickets for years, and said Wyoming is losing big money to adjacent states.
So Griffith was not happy when the state House on Monday voted 31-27 to kill yet another attempt to legalize a lottery in the state.
I think it's pathetic, he said.
After a half-dozen previous attempts to legalize lottery by the state Legislature, this ...
Feb 7, 2007, 11:09 am - - Lottery News forum
