Wednesday, March 15, 2000
Multistate lotto link possible for Ohio
BY SPENCER HUNT
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS — Lottery officials in Michigan and Georgia say they know how the Ohio Lottery can revive its sagging sales and lure gamblers back.
They want Ohio to join The Big Game, a seven-state lotto that can offer greed-inspiring, $100 million-plus jackpots for $1 a ticket. The Big Game also can compete with Powerball, a 20-state lottery that helps Kentucky and Indiana draw throngs of southwest Ohio residents across state lines.
Powerball, which paid out $150 million on March 4, is one big reason the Ohio Lottery's revenues have declined the past three years. On Thursday, a legislative panel will push for the state to join a multistate lottery, rather than offer video and Internet gambling, as the best way to reinvigorate ticket sales.
While lottery leaders in Kentucky and Indiana were tight-lipped about the idea of Ohio's joining their Powerball club, Big Game officials appeared ready to welcome the Buckeye State with open arms.
“We would love to have Ohio participate, if they would like to,” said Rebecca Paul, president of the Georgia Lottery. “It would be good for the game and good for the people of Ohio.”
Don Gilmer, the Michigan Lottery commissioner, agrees. He thinks the potential profits from having Ohio in the Big Game would surpass losses in ticket sales to northern Ohio residents.
“The chances are better that you'll reach a big jackpot faster. Bigger jackpots mean more (ticket) sales,” Mr. Gilmer said. “That, to me, outweighs the fact we'll have some border retailers that will lose some sales.”
John Carlton, owner of the Tri-County Beverage Center in Springdale, said he'd like to offer customers something like Powerball. He said interest in the Ohio Lottery's games has fallen off a little.
“It seems that it's not as popular as it used to be,” Mr. Carlton said. “Powerball would help. I haven't heard of the Big Game.”
Ohio could not join Big Game until lottery directors in the member states of Georgia, Michigan, Virginia, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland and Massachusetts approve it.
“I can't speak for all the lotteries. Just Georgia's,” Ms. Paul said. “I can't imagine any of them would object.”
State legislative leaders warn they have a long way to go before Ohio Lottery machines start spitting out Big Game tickets.
The General Assembly would first have to pass a law giving the lottery permission to join a multistate game. House Speaker Jo Ann Davidson, R-Reynoldsburg, said she's not sure that law can pass this year, or at all.
“There's not been a great deal of interest in broadening games of chance,” Ms. Davidson said. “This is a very, very sensitive subject in the Legislature.”
Senate President Richard Finan, R-Evendale, said he's not sure a multistate lottery would increase Ohio Lottery profits.
Ohio Gov. Bob Taft won't say much, either. Spokesman Scott Milburn would only say the governor wants to stabilize lottery revenues and that he's waiting for the commission to finish its work.
Religious groups and conservative lawmakers who oppose any expansion of legalized gambling would certainly try to defeat a multistate lotto proposal in the Legislature.
“When you offer bigger jackpots, that's an expansion of gambling,” said the Rev. Tom Grey, a United Methodist minister and executive director of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling.
Perhaps for those reasons, Ohio's Lottery Profit Review Commission dropped two other controversial ideas from the report it is expected to approve Thursday.
The group had considered making lottery games available on the Internet as one method to boost sales. It also looked at installing video gaming terminals at race tracks.
The commission chairman, Rep. J. Donald Mottley, R-West Carollton, says the report will simply mention video terminals and the Internet as options to consider.
Mr. Mottley, Mr. Finan and Ms. Davidson agree it's important to revive the lottery's profits, because they are used to fund public schools. Ohio Lottery ticket sales have fallen from a record $2.4 billion in fiscal year 1996 to about $2.1 billion in fiscal 1999.
Ms. Paul said the Big Game could help Ohio stabilize its lottery revenues by canceling out Powerball's power to drain away Ohio dollars. Ohio could just as easily attract out-of-state gamblers on occasions when the Big Game jackpot exceeds $100 million.
“(Ohioans) are already playing these games,” Ms. Paul said. “Ohio is just not getting any benefit from it.”
Lottery leaders in Kentucky and Indiana would not say if they'd want Ohio in Powerball or oppose its membership.
Ohio could not become a Powerball state until at least 14 of the games' 21 member lotteries approve it in a weighted vote. Powerball includes 20 state lotteries and the District of Columbia Lottery.
“Any time you have a new state asking to come in, you have to look at the overall sales impact,” said James Maguire, a Powerball board member and director of Indiana's Hoosier Lottery. “(Indiana) would see a direct impact.”
Arch Gleason, president of the Kentucky Lottery, estimates as much as $11 million of his state's $111 million in Powerball sales last year came from Ohio residents. Despite that, he said he would not automatically vote against Ohio's joining Powerball.
Mr. Gleason said he'd first have to see whether Kentucky would lose or gain in overall sales if Ohio residents had greater access to Powerball tickets. Then he'd try to determine whether Ohio helped or hurt other Powerball states' sales.
“At this point I wouldn't be able to tell you how I would vote based on all these circumstances,” he said.
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