A co-chairman of the Legislature's Lottery Oversight Committee has drafted legislation to repeal a 2013 law that enabled Oaklawn Park to offer online betting throughout the state.
Known as Oaklawn Anywhere, the website allows participants who have deposited money to bet on races via their computer and smartphones.
Rep. Mark Perry, D-Jacksonville, released his proposal Thursday, a day after Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, urged Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe to place lottery-related legislation on the agenda for next week's special session.
Hickey said he gave Beebe a list of 65 representatives Wednesday who want the governor to add Hickey's bill to bar the state lottery from offering electronic monitor games to the agenda for the special session that starts Monday.
Oaklawn's lobbyists have been working with lawmakers opposed to the lottery offering electronic monitor games, such as keno or quick-draw, that could compete for gamblers' bucks.
A year ago, Perry urged the lottery commission to consider implementing electronic monitor games to boost declining ticket sales and net proceeds for college scholarships. In April, the commission authorized the implementation of the monitor games, a day after a majority of the Legislature's lottery oversight committee declared its opposition to the games.
Supporters of the quick-draw game said it's similar to Powerball and Mega Millions, except drawings would be held every 4 minutes and results would be shown on monitors similar to television screens set up in participating locations.
Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said Thursday that Beebe plans to have more discussions today "to see where the vote counts are" on Hickey's and Perry's proposed bills.
"We have got a few different pieces [of legislation] now in play, and we just need to talk to everyone and see where everything stands," he said. "We told supporters of both bills that we'd touch base with them Friday morning and see what the landscape looks like."
Beebe on Tuesday called for the Legislature to convene in a special session starting Monday to consider bills to increase funding for the state's public school employees health insurance plan, and to open about 600 prison and jail beds to help relieve a backlog of state inmates in county jails.
Perry could not be reached for comment about his proposed legislation Thursday. Hickey declined to comment about the merits of Perry's proposed legislation.
Sen. Bill Sample, R-Hot Springs, who sponsored Act 350 of 2013 that cleared the way for Oaklawn Anywhere, said his measure "was to take care of something that has been going on for 15 years.
"You or I either one can go on the Internet and go to TVG or HRTV and set up an account, but that money either goes to Churchill Downs or it goes to Great Britain [or elsewhere]," Sample said. TVG is a Los Angeles-based interactive horse-racing network and HRTV is its rival.
Sample said it's estimated that his measure has allowed about $30 million to stay in Arkansas, and "now they are wanting to do away with it. It doesn't make sense to me."
He said he supports Hickey's bill to ban electronic monitor games because people who can least afford to play them, spend the most playing them.
Money that should buy food and help educate children gets gambled away instead, he said. "And it could be just a moral conviction, but I've got a problem with that."
Sample said he draws a distinction between people who gamble at Oaklawn Park, and people who gamble with the lottery.
"Maybe I shouldn't. I have never seen anybody walk by Oaklawn that gets [dragged] in."
Sample said he views Perry's proposed legislation as a response to Hickey's proposed bill to ban electronic monitor games. It's widely viewed in legislative and lobbying circles as a shot across the bow against Oaklawn Park's lobbying for Hickey's legislation.
In a related development Thursday, Arkansas Lottery Commissioner Bruce Engstrom of North Little Rock said in an email to House Speaker Davy Carter, R-Cabot, that Engstrom's comment at Wednesday's lottery commission meeting "has been misrepresented to members of the General Assembly."
Engstrom wrote that when he said Wednesday that "if they want to negotiate, I think they ought to come over here and stand right up here and negotiate," he was referring to "the Oaklawn Racing and Gaming special interests -- not the General Assembly as a whole.
"It is my understanding that Oaklawn advocates have misrepresented my quote to be a slight on the Legislature or a sign of disrespect. That was certainly not my intention," Engstrom said. "I appreciate the very positive relationship the General Assembly has had with the Lottery Commission and look forward to that continuing."
Engstrom said the lottery commission "used a very careful and thoughtful process" before voting in April to authorize lottery director Bishop Woosley to implement electronic monitor games.
"I remain frustrated at the recent opposition to our efforts by Oaklawn and only meant to express that feeling with my comments [Wednesday]," Engstrom wrote in his email.
A spokesman for Oaklawn Park could not be reached for comment by telephone late Thursday afternoon. Carter could not be reached for comment by telephone Thursday.
Also Thursday, Woosley said lottery officials are still aiming to implement the monitor game called quick-draw starting Sept. 29.
He said 280 existing lottery retailers have expressed interest in having monitors, which are television screens, in their stores, and 128 new quick-draw retailers are considered to be strong possibilities for them. The lottery has more than 1,800 retailers that sell tickets.
The lottery's proposed budget for fiscal 2015 forecasts ticket sales of $428 million with $81.2 million collected for college scholarships, including about $12.5 million in ticket sales revenue and about $3.5 million in college scholarships generated by a quick-draw game.
Metro on 06/27/2014