Stories

“I’ve not seen much interest inside our caucus in proceeding with the sale of the lottery,” Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal said. “I’ve always thought that was kind of a long shot. It continues to be a long shot.”

Although some have argued that state lotteries are generally recession-proof, this recent economic downturn seems to prove otherwise.
Testifying today before the state legislature’s joint Oversight Committee, Iowa Lottery official Mary Neubauer told lawmakers that Iowa’s lottery was not immune to the downward trend:

Although no elected officials have been willing to embrace the idea of selling (or leasing) the Iowa Lottery, the newspaper Iowa depends upon has been treating it as the most serious policy proposal of the 2009 legislative session.

Iowa Republicans have proposed that the state sell (or lease) the Iowa Lottery to IPERS, the state’s public employee retirement fund.
In part, the proposal is meant to give the GOP a foothold in 2010, when they will claim that any possible plan to lease the lottery to private interests was a result of massive campaign [...]

Iowa veterans and their families were the biggest winners in the Iowa Lottery’s most recent quarterly payout, which transferred $992,773 to the Veterans Trust Fund (VTF). The payout stemmed from sales of the $1 instant-scratch game, “Stars & Stripes,” between July and September 2008.

For many Iowa veterans, the war-front follows them home, where they have to battle for benefits already promised to them by the government through the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund (VTF). The annual battle came to an end last week when the Iowa Lottery introduced the first of four games, Stars & Stripes, that will directly benefit the fund.