We can’t remember when a snub has felt so good.
Powerball states have apparently thought better of their offer earlier this year to cut rival states in on the action. In a vote late last month, the cabal’s tally was 12-18 against allowing Mega Millions states to also sell Powerball tickets.
Washington Lottery folks are none too happy about the alleged double cross.
They had hustled to convince the Legislature that the state stood to lose millions if it didn’t buy in. They had been counting on being able to keep Powerball fans from going to Oregon or Idaho to get their fix. They had promised to deliver an extra $11.5 million for state coffers over the next two years.
Their numbers were suspect. News Tribune columnist Peter Callaghan has used documents obtained under the state’s public records act to show that lottery officials likely overestimated the financial benefits of adding Powerball to the state’s menu of gambling options.
But say, for the sake of argument, that lottery folks were right. Their numbers were based on the assumption that the state would not only reap a windfall from Vancouver and Spokane residents who now travel across state lines to play Powerball, but that easy access would also spur new sales among Tacomans and Everett-ites and Ellensburgers.
In other words, the state lottery was betting on persuading more people to gamble.
In a recession.
Lawmakers should have been wary of any scheme that has government banking on the dubious prospects of gambling proceeds. But desperate for any fresh source of cash to plug a $9 billion hole in the state budget, they took the state lottery’s bet.
This Powerball jackpot turned out to be just as elusive as they always are. The loss of $11.5 million is nothing against the $487 million that vanished from the state’s expected tax collections on Thursday with the latest revenue forecast. But it once again proves the folly of funding public services on the backs of gamblers.
But the loss of that $11.5 million is no pity. The egg on lottery officials’ faces probably means Washingtonians will have a few more dollars in their pockets, and that can only be a good thing.
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