As details continued to leak out Wednesday about Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels' plan to privatize the Hoosier Lottery, reaction from area lawmakers was less than encouraging.
Daniels is expected to unveil the proposal — which would likely raise money for higher education — at 11 a.m. today.
Wells County Republican Rep. Jeff Espich was briefed on the idea a few weeks ago along with other key lawmakers.
His understanding of the plan was to entice a private entity to run the lottery in exchange for an upfront payment that could reach $1 billion as well as an ongoing annual stream of revenue.
Right now, the lottery funnels a little less than $200 million a year to the state budget. A slice of that goes to support teacher, police and firefighter pensions, with the bulk going to reduce auto excise taxes.
"The governor is a man of big ideas, and I don't think he's afraid to suggest them. I give him great credit for that," Espich said. "On the other hand, both the legislature and the public will only accept so many big ideas."
He said he is afraid that so many controversial programs — from implementing full-day kindergarten, getting approval to build a toll road around part of central Indiana and increasing the cigarette tax to finance a low-income health insurance program — might dilute Daniels' ability to get any of them done.
Espich said the lottery proposal differs from the long-term lease of the Indiana Toll Road because administration officials claimed the road was losing money and could be run more profitably in the private sector.
But the lottery has steadily increased profits in recent years.
"On the surface it's not as clear cut a good deal as Major Moves," he said. "We could get short-changed in 10 years."
And Espich isn't so keen on where the money would go — to support college scholarships.
"The state already ranks sixth in scholarship assistance, so I'm not sure that's a good reason to make such a bold move," he said.
A leaked copy of the governor's presentation surfaced Wednesday, providing more detail on the scholarships.
wish they could go back to ball drawings.i wonder in indiana's case if selling would be a good or bad idea.the lottery there right now is already in shambles with little integrity left.
I think privitization of this type of game would be a little unsettling for me if I were in IN resident. However, if they went back to ball drawings, that would make me feel a little better.
Others questioned the POSSIBILITY of CORRUPTION????????????
in a privately run LOTTERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
& the Indiana Gov. wants to SELL...........................IT???????????
& make a BILLION off THIS broken down USED car, piece of CRAP.
PSYKOMO seye, SELL da SUCKER
& REMOVE all of the CORRUPTION & LIBILITY from the STATE!!!!!
LOL..........BUYER BEWARE.......USED CAR BEWARE......of JUNK!!!
"The governor is a man of big ideas, and I don't think he's afraid to suggest them. I give him great credit for that," Espich said. "On the other hand, both the legislature and the public will only accept so many big ideas."
I think someone is confusing "big ideas" with "good ideas". If Indiana wanted to run their lottery like a private lottery, they would have the same payout percentages that the off-shore places claim to pay and would pay the winners in a way that they could avoid paying taxes until they got caught. Beside the state have private lotteries already, they just have to make them legal.
Whatever it is you said, I agree.
"Oh my," was Monroe Republican Rep. Mike Ripley's reaction to the idea. "There are a lot of things I think the private sector can do better, but I'm not sure about this one. Because of the potential for graft it might be better to keep it in government hands."
Oh yes lets keep this in the states hands, so I can continue to get my "lunch money" and my entertainment expenses check every week..
These cronies are almost as bad as the cronies here in Jersey...!
Isn't this one reason why the Government (States) Runs lotteries? To keep it out of Private-illegal hands? Scary thought. Moreover, privatizing public services in gneral for private profit (not revenue) . is just plain wrong.