Wednesday, February 09, 2000
Ohio may sell lottery online
Panel looking at options
BY MICHAEL HAWTHORNE
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS — You can buy a pair of hiking boots on the Internet. Or a hard-to-find toy. Or even a car.
Now Ohio is considering whether to become the first state that sells lottery tickets online.
Desperate to boost sagging sales, which state officials blame on competition from riverboat casinos and multistate games such as Powerball, a state commission later this month likely will recommend Internet lottery purchases as a cure.
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LOTTERY SALES
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Eight Southwest Ohio counties, including Hamilton, Butler, Clermont and Warren, have experienced the largest decline in lottery sales.
Lottery sales in the region were $239.4 million last year, a 4.4 percent decline from $250.3 million the previous year.
Statewide, sales dropped about 3 percent, to $2.08 billion.
Source: Ohio Lottery Commission
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The stakes are high. Under the Ohio Constitution, lottery profits are directed to public schools. If sales continue to plummet, lawmakers could be forced to make up the difference by cutting other areas of the state budget or by trying to raise taxes.
“I'm willing to look at anything that can keep our lottery profits up,” said Senate President Richard Finan, R-Evendale. “We need to keep the games running competitively or get out of the business altogether.”
State Rep. Don Mottley, R-West Carrollton, chairman of the state commission, said he thinks extending the lottery to the Internet is a smart move and expects the commission to adopt that as one of its recommendations.
Lottery players in the Cincinnati area weren't sure what to make of the idea.
Sandi Marcum of Anderson Township said she's unsure she'd play a cyberspace version of Lotto.
But she and others didn't think it would affect people with gambling problems. “If people want to gamble, they will gamble. There isn't anything you can do to prevent it,” Ms. Marcum said.
Mary King of Mount Washington said she also has played Lotto. But she would not play it on the Internet.
“I'm less trusting,” she said. “It don't want my credit card numbers and other information going on the Internet.”
David Kinney of Clermont County said Internet lottery play would be OK with him.
“I think it's a good idea. As long as the money continues to go toward the schools,” he said.
Two companies, including one based in Cincinnati, already have pitched using the Web to sell Super Lotto tickets and scratch-off games.
While gambling opponents and some lawmakers contend Internet sales would encourage problem gamblers to empty their wallets online, companies looking to cash in on the idea say there would be safeguards to limit betting and restrict minors from buying.
Seeking to defuse a common complaint from lottery critics, the companies also maintain their customers would be more affluent than regular players. Several national studies have shown that poor people spend a disproportionate amount of their income on lottery tickets.
“It's not just about going directly into people's homes,” said Roger Ach, president of the Cincinnati-based Lottery Channel. “It's about the fact that on any given day, anyone may not have an extra five minutes to stand in line and buy a ticket.”
Mr. Ach's company and a competitor, eLottery Inc. of Milford, Conn., have Web sites (www.elottery.com and www.lottery.com)
featuring casinolike games that award prizes.
Before those companies and others try to persuade state lawmakers to let them sell lottery tickets online, they will have to fight for approval from Congress. The U.S. Sen ate voted last year to ban Internet gambling, though the House version of the bill may give states authority to put their lottery games on the Web.
“I'm not sure this is something we should do,” said State Sen. Mark Mallory, a Cincinnati Democrat and member of the state commission studying the idea. “A lot of people have access to the Internet, not just rich folks. I can see cases of people losing everything they've got online.”
And while proponents consider online games an extension rather than an expansion of state-sanctioned gambling, opponents vow to fight the idea in every state.
“We are trying to stop the expansion of legalized gambling because we believe it is bad for businesses, bad for families and just plain bad social policy,” said the Rev. Tom Grey, a United Methodist minister and executive director of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling.
Gov. Bob Taft created the state Lottery Profits Review Commission to recommend ways to reverse a three-year decline in lottery sales. The Ohio Lottery pumped $696 million into schools last year, down from $748.5 million in 1996.
Anti-gambling conservatives in the House and Senate blocked Mr. Taft's request to join the Powerball or other multistate games. But those same lawmakers generally supported more aggressive marketing of the state's existing lottery games.
Under the two-year state budget, the Ohio Lottery Commission's advertising budget will jump 41 percent. The Lottery also added a midday drawing of its Pick 3 and Pick 4 games, adding to drawings already held each evening six days a week.
Marie McCain contributed to this report.
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