Lottery Privatization
by Margaret Mueller
Contact the principal investigator- Margaret Mueller (margaretm@8sages.com) with your questions, comments or request for updates on this topic.
Illinois, Indiana, California among other stares contemplate selling their state lotteries to private interests in order to gain immediate access to the wealth they represent.
One argument goes that private business can run the lottery more efficiently and profitably than government and can afford to pay a high price for the property.
The public, however, is reluctant to see the lottery sold to private interests. The Independent Lottery Research (ILR) survey of 450 Americans selected by random digital dialing finds 58% expressing their displeasure at the though of lotteries being sold by stating that they would not play the lottery as often if it were owned by private business rather than the state government.
Lottery players, who constitute ___% of the population, may not be willing actually to forgo the pleasure they derive playing the lottery but they would suffer no penalty by voting against the sale of the lottery.
Large banking institutions stand to gain from the sale of the lottery by issuing bonds that buyers use to raise the money needed to purchase the lottery. They are likely to support campaigns to induce the public to vote for the privatization of the lottery.
Politicians, however, stand to gain by responding to the public reluctance to see the lottery sold and oppose such sales.
The outcome of the on-going effort to privatize lotteries has broad implications. Not only are states contemplate the sale of their lottery, but they are also contemplating the sale of toll roads, water utilities and other income producing properties.
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