Bill to thwart lottery game put on agenda

Beebe is told votes add up

In the special session starting Monday, lawmakers will consider legislation to bar the state lottery from offering electronic monitor games, Gov. Mike Beebe said Friday.

The Democratic governor Tuesday declined to place the lottery-related legislation on the call for the special session because, he said, "They don't have the votes in the House, and the House is not interested in doing it."

Beebe on Tuesday called a special session and placed bills to boost funding for the public school employees health insurance plan and to open about 600 prison and jail beds on the agenda.

At the time, Beebe said it was his understanding that fewer than 50 representatives backed the bill, proposed by Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana. But Friday, Beebe said he decided to add the legislation to the agenda after he was satisfied that it has more than 60 votes in the 100-member House.

"There has been all kinds of votes taken, ballots taken and polls taken, and there was some back and forth about 'Well, maybe those numbers were not real,' so I wanted to make sure that we gave plenty of time to see if any of the numbers changed," Beebe told reporters.

Supporters of the electronic monitor game called quick-draw said it's similar to Powerball and Mega Millions, except drawings would be held every four minutes and results would be shown on monitors similar to television screens set up in participating locations.

In April, the commission voted to authorize the implementation of the games, a day after a majority of the Legislature's lottery oversight committee voted to declare its opposition to the games.

Beebe said he didn't "really" consider adding to the special session's agenda legislation proposed by Rep. Mark Perry, D-Jacksonville, to repeal a 2013 law that enabled Oaklawn Park to offer online betting throughout the state because Perry "never got a vote count in."

Known as Oaklawn Anywhere, the website allows participants who have deposited money to bet on races using their computer and smartphones.

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 suggested the Arkansas Lottery Commission consider implementing electronic monitor games to help boost declining ticket sales and net proceeds for college scholarships.

Perry's proposed legislation was widely viewed among lawmakers and lobbyists as a swipe at Oaklawn Park's lobbyists who are working with lawmakers who want to ban these electronic monitor games. Perry could not be reached for comment by telephone Thursday or late Friday.

Beebe on Friday drew a distinction between the lottery's electronic monitor games and Oaklawn Anywhere.

The electronic monitor games authorized by the commission several weeks ago are "something new that has just now come up," he said.

"The other thing is not something new that just came up," Beebe said.

Last year, the governor signed Act 350 of 2013 to clear the way for the introduction of Oaklawn Anywhere in January.

Beebe said he has been an opponent of the lottery expanding into electronic monitor games, including keno or quick-draw since 2009. Voters wanted "a traditional lottery. Period," when they approved a 2008 constitutional amendment authorizing the Legislature to create a state lottery, he said.

Former Lt. Gov. Bill Halter of North Little Rock, who briefly challenged Beebe for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2006 before switching races, was the leading proponent for creating a state lottery to raise money for college scholarships.

"There is no question they need the additional revenue [for college scholarships.] But you just don't do something because somebody needs additional revenue if you don't agree with ... what they are doing," Beebe said.

"Part of this problem goes back to I told you so," he said. "I told the Legislature and the lieutenant governor and all the folks that were working independently on all that lottery stuff when it first passed to start low [with the amount of scholarships]. And it is easier to go up than it is to start high and find out you don't have enough money and that is what's happened."

More students than projected also have received the Arkansas Academic Challenge scholarship that is largely financed by the lottery, Beebe noted. More than 30,000 students have received the scholarship during each of the past four years.

"Some of us saw this coming and tried to warn them at the beginning," he said.

Lottery Director Bishop Woosley said the law enacted in 2009 allows the lottery to offer monitor games "to add games to its catalog of games and to boost ticket sales.

"It's just another tool in our toolbox and we are not trying to do anything that we don't think is legal and that is not beneficial to Arkansas and the students of Arkansas," he said. The lottery's ticket sales and net proceeds for scholarships have dipped during the past two fiscal years.

The lottery's fiscal 2015 budget projects 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, which lottery officials plan to introduce in September.

Beebe said there's "a good chance" that the House Rules Committee, appointed by House Speaker Davy Carter, R-Cabot, might reject Hickey's legislation.

Carter said Friday that he's going to meet with the House Rules Committee's members Monday and "we are going to talk about [the legislation]."

He said he wants to gauge the opinions of the House Rules Committee's members, and "we'll make a decision."

Earlier this week, Carter said, "I think it is way more complex and controversial than [opponents of the monitor games] may be thinking" and is better suited for the 2015 regular session.

"It is just going to turn into a firestorm. There are strong opinions on both sides of it," he said.

Hickey said he appreciates that Beebe added his lottery-related legislation to the call for the special session.

"We are optimistic that we'll have passage in both houses," he said.

Hickey said he hopes the bill isn't killed by the House Rules Committee.

"I will be imperative that those members on the House Rules Committee attend the meeting and vote in a positive manner. I think membership sees the importance that if we won't pass this we will have gambling machines in every city in the state," he said.

Hickey said he fears the implementation of electronic monitor games will lead to games such as "rolling slot machines and craps.

"If we let the shoe get in the door, you can be assured it will open other multiple type of games in the future," he said.

The lottery's electronic monitor games are distinct from Oaklawn Park's gambling operations in that "they would be at retail outlets across the state," Hickey said.

Woosley has said he hopes to initially have about 250 retailers selling tickets for the quick-draw games, which some people call keno. By June 2015, Woosley hopes to have 400 lottery retailers showing the drawings.

During a brief meeting of the Arkansas Lottery Commission Friday afternoon, Commission Chairman John Campbell of Hot Springs suggested the lottery officials get an electronic monitor, which is a television screen, at the state Capitol "if anybody wants to look and see what this game looks like."

Woosley replied, "We'll see what we can do. We might be able to take an iPad over there with that demonstration ... to show people."

A section on 06/28/2014

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