Taking Bets on the Lottery
I have to admit, when I first heard about a plan to privatize the Hoosier Lottery, I was a little taken back as well. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Put the emotions aside and look at the facts.
First, the Lottery isn’t going anywhere. It will still remain in state hands, just like the Toll Road , the Indianapolis Water Company and Airport. The state will hire a private company to oversee the lottery, and get a lot of cash for it. The money will be used to send people to college and bring more smart people to Indiana . Private companies already manage and run the riverboats, casinos and horse tracks. It’s not an expansion of gambling because nothing more is being added to the state. So after looking at all that, I’m trying to grasp what the problem is?
The Governor has the backing of all the major public and private colleges and universities in Indiana . And those schools have a lot of alumni and a lot of supporters who probably wouldn’t mind making a phone call or two to their local lawmaker. Secondly, the budget forecast shows there’s not a lot of new revenue on the horizon, and that forecast the experts say is optimistic at best. Do we have to all the necessary safeguards? Sure. Openness, transparency, no loss in revenue, you bet we do.
But if we have a way to pay to make people smarter as a result of the money that comes from a voluntary activity, that is usually paid for by people who aren’t good at math, will someone please tell me what the problem is?
