A record-setting $50 million lottery ticket that went unclaimed looks likely to be more bad luck, this time for the Florida Lottery.
The largest jackpot left on the table in Florida history is inspiring a flood of legislation requiring that such dollars go directly to education not back into future prizes or promotions as current law allows.
The Florida Lottery warns such a move could backfire, reducing payouts and, in turn, the volume of ticket sales.
Some state legislators, eager to pump money into schools, colleges and universities in an election year, say they're ready to play that game of chance.
"I've heard that pitch before about this being a shortsighted move," said Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, who is sponsoring three bills changing how unclaimed lottery prizes are distributed. "I just don't buy the Lottery's argument."
In the seesaw world of lottery prizes and ticket sales, state auditors generally support the agency's position.
Pumping up prizes by $1 generates an average increase of $4.67 in sales. In one year studied, 2000-01, rolling unclaimed jackpots back into prizes was credited for boosting scratch-off ticket sales that produced an extra $36 million for education.
Each month, as much as $4 million in Lottery prizes go unclaimed, officials said.
"Historically, using unclaimed prize money to increase the prize payouts for scratch-off games has provided the highest and best return on that investment," Lottery Secretary Rebecca Mattingly has said.
But when state legislators in October passed one-time legislation allowing proceeds from that unclaimed mega-jackpot to go straight to community colleges and state universities staggered by recent budget cuts, critics became emboldened.
"I think we're just trying to get the money into the classrooms as quickly as possible," said Rep. Charlie Justice, D-St. Petersburg, who has filed one of at least six bills in play for next spring's session aimed at redirecting unclaimed lottery prizes.
"I'm not necessarily saying all the unclaimed prize money should be redirected. Maybe we should put a portion directly into education. But at least we should talk about it," Justice said.
Lynn, who has been pushing similar legislation for several years, is back with a package of bills offering a menu of options steering the money to any of these three components of the education system.
Sen. Stephen Wise, R-Jacksonville, is proposing 60 percent of abandoned prize money go to financing reading initiatives in public schools.
"In the overall scheme, this may look like low-hanging fruit ready to grab," said Senate Rules Chairman Tom Lee, R-Brandon, who will have a powerful influence over whether the legislation goes anywhere next spring.
"It's another part of some big philosophical issues we have to deal with, really on how we fund the state budget into the future," Lee said.
All told, the Lottery has contributed more than $13 billion to education since it was launched 15 years ago. But critics have long complained lottery dollars essentially have been used to replace state tax money siphoned to other areas of state government.
Somehow this article was passed over because of the holidays. As lottery players, we should be fighting to have unclaimed winnings available in future games/drawings.
Somehow this article was passed over because of the holidays. As lottery players, we should be fighting to have unclaimed winnings available in future games/drawings.