The state Lottery would be allowed to pay out more money on jackpots, with the aim of gaining more players and boosting funding for schools, under a measure that advanced Tuesday, but Los Angeles' teachers are skeptical.
Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi (D-Castro Valley) said her legislation would ultimately mean more money for education, but the United Teachers of Los Angeles objected during a committee hearing that it would allow funds to be shifted from education to prizes.
Voters approved the lottery in 1984 with a requirement that at least 84% of the money go back to the public, at least half in prizes and 34% to schools. Hayashi's proposal would increase the amount going back to the public to 87%, which would allow more revenue to be put into bigger jackpots, but would leave it to the Lottery Commission to decide how much goes to education.
Based on experiences in other states, lottery industry officials estimated that bigger prizes would draw more players, boosting money for schools from the current $1 billion to $1.4 billion each year.
The Senate Governmental Organization Committee was impressed and unanimously approved AB 142, despite protests by the UTLA.
"The percentage for education will now be determined by a commission, and all that does is cause us to be involved in a political situation where education may not get what it received before,'' said Harold L. Boyd Jr., a UTLA lobbyist.
Ross Warren, a consultant to Hayashi, said the bill requires the state to revert back to the old formulas if the change does not produce at least the same amount that schools are now getting.
bill requires the state to revert back to the old formulas if the change does not produce at least the same amount that schools are now getting.
whats the big deal with that plan!
this UTLA lobbyist looks like a total idiot to say no to it
, if it dont work out, they go back to old formulas!
hell i wish we had that for tn computor drawings
they be like, lets see if we save more money for our pack 3 ,4 ,5 games
if it dont work out, we go back to old design, ball drawings,
no we got beeped,
utla should be happy they have a such a backup plan,
nonething wrong with trying something new and going back to old ways if it dont work
so the very goal UTLA is more money for schools huh
, this is a oxymoron thing to do to say no to it then
seems to me, they dont like change much,
then again their CA so it normal for them
nearly everyone in charge of the state budget over their is a total moron, their debt speaks for it self
they dont want change, so they keep going broke and stay in debt, sign
hopeful ca lotto will get powerball asap , sense they are right, large prizes = more sales = more money for them
I have been saying all along that they should re-vamp, revised, whatever the CA Lottery to boost more players into the system and to have better payouts. The games are getting very stale and boring and they need to come up with a brand new game as well. I know someone in charge made the final decision not to allow "Powerball" which was a very dumb move; that alone would have generate new players into the system. Also, I've participated on the website and filled out their surveys regarding new lottery games and updating the other games but it seems they have not listen or implement any of my suggestions yet.
As the saying goes, they are: "A day late--a dollar short"
I live in Michigan, where at one time years ago, the lottery was waning, I mean going down big time, before The lottery commission was able to push a bill through the legislature raising the percentage that the lottery would dispense in prize money. The same arguments were raised that it would draw money away from the schools. Well the bill passed and the Michigan Lottery is one of the most successful lotteries in the country. Instant ticket sales here are thriving. I wisited California and stayed there 7 months. While I was there I played the lottery the same way I would have played in Michigan. What a disaster. Losing ticket after losing ticket. A two dollar winner or even a free ticket became a moral victory.The top prize I won in instant tickets in 7 months was $20 dollars and that was it. The odds of finding a winning ticket had to be 1 in 20. By the time I left that state I felt like an all day sucker! It takes money to make money!They are doing a lot of things wrong out there as far as the lottery goes. I think I'd have a stroke if I hit 5 white ball in the Mega Millions Drawing and only won $ 80,000 instead of the 250,000 won in every other state. Of course that is the worst case senario, but it has happened. Don't get me started on buying tickets for consecutive drawings. You can't buy tickets for just the evening draws or just the midday draws, no you have to buy consecutive drawings if you want to buy a number for a week at a time.
It just sucks!
liberal47:
"I think I'd have a stroke if I hit 5 white ball in the Mega Millions Drawing and only won $ 80,000 instead of the 250,000 won in every other state."
Same here. I wish California would dump pari-mutuel.
I like pari-mutel here in CA. Daily 3 and Daily 4 prizes on uncommon #s are sometimes 20-30% more than the usual pay outs in structered pay-outs. And when no one wins the 5 white ball prize in mega it rolls over. I've seen 1 million won before on hitting 5 white balls. Occasionally with very common #s the payouts will be crap, but for the most part our winnings are on par with any other structured pay out.
But when it comes to casino's yeah pari-mutel is a joke, I don't gamble in CA casinos for that reason.
"Voters approved the lottery in 1984 with a requirement that at least84% of the money go back to the public, at least half in prizes and 34%to schools. Hayashi's proposal would increase the amount going back tothe public to 87%, which would allow more revenue to be put into biggerjackpots, but would leave it to the Lottery Commission to decide howmuch goes to education."
I am surprised only 84% goes to the public. That means 16% goes to the lottery companies. That seems a bit excessive to me. I don't believe the lottery companies need 16% of the jackpot to run the games and pay their employees, unless they're making millions off our money! For years I always assumed the cut of the lottery companies was far smaller, in the 5-10% range!
Why exactly does the California State Senate want to change the formula now? Unless, perhaps the lottery companies are slathering them with money, i.e. campaign contributions!
Why should we trust the Lottery Commission to decide how much goes to education anyway? The original promise of the lottery law, a proposition approved by the voters, was that the lottery money would give extra equipment and programs to schools. In reality, what happened was the lottery money was used to replace money taken out of the regular school budget, few "extra" computers, few "extra" programs. Now they want to to reduce the money going to the schools even further!
Out of curiosity, I looked through the last 35 games to see how often pari-mutuel worked in CA's favor. More often than not (18 to 17), the payout was less than $250,000.
Still...the games when it's way over what the other MM states get for 5+0, would be a sweet time to win.
Me too Dollar.
I've participated in every survey they had and felt good about it. But it seemed to be alot of hogwash (for lack of a worse word). So I guess that means I can give up my dream of them having a Powerball in CA. Then they better work something out with Mega Millions!