Bill dissolves Arkansas lottery panel

Feb 22, 2011, 10:27 am (5 comments)

Arkansas Lottery

Move designed to give legislature more direct oversight

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The legislative committee that oversees the Arkansas Lottery would be dissolved under a bill filed Monday.

Senate Bill 365 by Sen. Larry Teague, D-Nashville, would repeal language in the state lottery law that created a 12-member legislative oversight committee on the lottery.

Teague's bill would require the Arkansas Lottery Commission to submit contracts, rules, reports and other information to the Legislative Council for review. The Joint Auditing Committee, the House and Senate committees on education and the Personnel Subcommittee of the Legislative Council would review lottery matters relevant to those committees.

Teague said he decided to file the bill after a 2010 audit of the lottery found numerous problems with internal controls.

"I want the Legislature to have more oversight," he said Monday.

Sen. Johnny Key, R-Mountain Home, who recently was appointed co-chairman of the oversight committee, said he had not read the bill, but he had known Teague planned to file it because of "some concerns he had."

"It's certainly not anything directed at me or the committee," Key said. "It's just the process. I'll read it and see what he is trying to accomplish."

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

sully16's avatarsully16

sounds like they got some problems..hmmm

dallascowboyfan's avatardallascowboyfan

WOW!!!! and I thought Oklahoma was screwed up.....

Todd's avatarTodd

I personally think many of the problems today were caused back when the lottery was started, and there was a huge rush articificially imposed by the new director to get the lottery running FAST.  When you rush, you make mistakes.  For example, not using real lottery drawing equipment, and instead going with computers.  That's a mistake that easy for any person to see; just imagine the things we CAN'T see.

KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

Many people may not like  computerized drawings, but I doubt that's part of what he meant by "problems with internal controls". Based on the article four legislatve comittees would be able to "review" things, but it says nothing about what they could actually do. It sounds like this could definitely increase legislative bureaucracy, but that's a lot different than having "more oversight".

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by KY Floyd on Feb 23, 2011

Many people may not like  computerized drawings, but I doubt that's part of what he meant by "problems with internal controls". Based on the article four legislatve comittees would be able to "review" things, but it says nothing about what they could actually do. It sounds like this could definitely increase legislative bureaucracy, but that's a lot different than having "more oversight".

I think you should read my comments again.  I did not say computerized drawings were a "problem with internal controls".  I indicated that it is symptomatic of poor judgement caused by a rushed implementation.

End of comments
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