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State Lawmakers Differ on Justice Department Decision's Effect on Proposed State Lottery Lease
A lottery lease proposal could still come up during state lawmakers’ fall Veto Session, despite a recent U.S. Justice Department decision that could limit the Illinois plan.

The decision indicated that the department believes any lottery that has brought in a private company to take on day-to-day operations is in violation of the law that allows state governments to have lotteries. Several state lawmakers who favor leasing the lottery say there must be away around that.

State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie), a point man on gambling, hopes the Illinois proposal will be touched up and floated during this month's session. "I don't think we should just simply give up," he says. "However, what we might have to do to fix this legislation--and I'm not exactly sure what that is--but whatever it is might devalue the lottery to a point where we can't reach the $10 billion figure that we anticipate as a minimum for moving forward with the program."

State Sen. John Cullerton (D-Chicago), who has been pushing this plan in the Senate, thinks the Justice Department interpretation could change once President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January. He says it's time Illinois made some moves, like "selling at least one game on the Internet, and that's something which we clearly can do, this opinion doesn't negate that at all," he says. "And we should make the private sector run the lottery."

(from the Illinois Radio Network)
11 09 08 by Newsroom
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