At 2 p.m. on Wednesday the members of the House and Senate State Agencies Committees will meet to talk about repealing the enabling legislation that set up state-run lottery. What goes on in Room 151 of the State Capitol in Little Rock isn’t likely to do anything to restrain Arkansas’ “out of control” State Lottery Commission—because they can’t. Why? Because last spring the Arkansas Legislature gave away its control of the lottery when they unanimously approved legislation to implement state-run lotteries.
State Senator Terry Smith of Hot Springs in his “broken record” tone repeatedly said, “Don’t tie the hands of the commission,” Well the legislature followed the lead of Senator Smith, Speaker of the House Robbie Wills of Conway, and a host of other legislative power brokers all the way to the state-run gambling trough. Thanks to them, we have one of the least regulated lotteries in the nation.
Lt. Governor Halter told our lawmakers that the bill they were about to pass would allow salaries of lottery employees to be set too high. They passed it anyway, and we ended up with a state lottery director who earns more than our college presidents and a lottery sheriff who makes more than the director of the Arkansas State Police.
When lawmakers were told that the bill they were about to pass didn’t even require the odds of winning to be published, they stared at the floor and passed the bill anyway. To this day, the commission isn’t legally required to disclose anything about the odds of winning.
When lawmakers were told that there was insufficient oversight of the lottery commission, they said they would rely on the commission to disclose to lawmakers and the public what they needed to know about this multi-million-dollar branch of state government. Instead of authorizing a lottery inspector general as they have in Florida, Iowa or other states, our lawmakers made the decision to omit the oversight.
When lawmakers were told that their lottery oversight committee didn’t have enough power to reign in the commission, they passed the bill anyway. Today, our own lawmakers are powerless to reign in the lottery commission they created because they gave away their power to control it. Today, the few lawmakers on the committee who would like to reign in the lottery can’t do it, because the law they passed gives them no power to do so. In government, you don’t destroy power, it simply moves around from one place to another. For now and for the foreseeable future, lottery power in Arkansas is in the hands of the Lottery Commission because the legislature looked the other way and passed a bad Arkansas lottery law.
Sen. Sue Madison has been granted the courtesy of a hearing on Wednesday to discuss possible repeal of the lottery enabling legislation. While one would hope our lawmakers own up to their mistake and make things right, don’t hold your breath. There is too much face saving at stake.
In the meantime, the lottery commission hasn’t met a lottery expansion effort that they don’t like. Lottery vending machines, Powerball, Mega Millions, $20 scratch-off tickets, Christmas-themed lottery tickets, and over 2,000 outlets is just the beginning. Arkansas has plunged deeper into gambling in two months than Tennessee and Georgia did in five years. And, their transformation of the Arkansas landscape isn’t over by a long shot. Look for them to transform local convenience stores into miniature casinos with rows of video lottery terminals that look and work like casino slot machines. Then there’s online lottery gambling, and games like Keno. The list of “lottery” expansions just keeps growing and growing.
And there’s nothing the lottery oversight committee can do about it. Why? Because they voted not to “tie the hands of the commission.”
Our hope is that a new crop of lawmakers who don’t have “face to save” will someday repeal or amend the existing bad law. But don’t hold your breath; lots of people are making lots of money off this lottery, and their influence at the State Capitol will only grow over time.
