Bill would get state out of gambling

Thursday, Jan. 6, 2000 | 9:49 a.m.

Chambers introduced a bill (LB905) Wednesday that would abolish the state lottery, effective July 1, 2001.

"The state should not be a part of gambling," Chambers said. "The state should never be the house."

With voter approval, Nebraska in 1993 became the 37th state to offer a lottery. Since then, the state's total lottery sales have reached more than $469 million. Of that, more than $250 million has been paid out in prizes and about $100 million has been set aside for annuities to some of the state's Powerball jackpot winners.

The remaining $119 million was distributed to three programs as required by state law. Trust funds established for environmental projects and educational innovations split 99 percent of the money. The remaining one percent goes to a fund set up to help compulsive gamblers.

Sen. Adrian Smith of Gering, who co-sponsored the bill, said he is dismayed that the number of calls to a state hotline for compulsive gambling have skyrocketed.

"The lottery has brought about some consequences that we didn't anticipate," Smith said.

The Nebraska Council on Compulsive Gambling said calls to the hotline increased from less than 500 in 1993 to about 5,700 in 1998. During the same period, casino gambling also started in Iowa, across the river from Omaha.

Smith said that lottery outlets in Nebraska are so prevalent that it leads to compulsive gambling.

"They are on nearly every street corner," he said.

Some 1,200 outlets sell scratch tickets statewide. Of those, about 850 also offer tickets to lottery games such as Powerball - the multi-state lottery - Cash 4 Life and Nebraska Pick 5.

State lottery director James Quinn had not read Chambers' bill and declined to comment Wednesday.

The bill does not call for abolishing bingo and pickle cards, which Chambers also opposes.

"I go after the dinosaur before I go after the microbes," he said.

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