Rhode Island Supreme Court considers constitutionality of Lottery Commission

David Rising

Wednesday, May 10, 2000 | 11:32 a.m.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could change the way the highly profitable state lottery is run.

Attorneys for the General Assembly, and others, asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to overturn a Superior Court ruling on the Rhode Island Lottery Commission. Judge Michael Silverstein ruled last year that the commission is unconstitutional because it makes decisions that are not approved by the House, Senate, or governor.

But Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse warned that if the ruling is overturned, it could create a "brave new governmental world" where laws are created by committees with little regard for traditional checks and balances.

"When (the General Assembly) is allowed to give power to itself and subsets of itself, it creates a hazard," Whitehouse told the Supreme Court justices.

The Lottery Commission grossed $730 million, before payouts, in the last fiscal year. The state's share of those revenues was $133.5 million.

Six of nine members of the Lottery Commission are members of the General Assembly, and all are appointed by the House and Senate.

Gov. Lincoln Almond, a long time gambling opponent, filed a constitutional challenge to the makeup after the commission voted last spring to approve the expansion of video slot machines at Newport Grand Jai Alai and Lincoln Greyhound Park.

Almond's attorney, Joseph Larisa, argued the commission violated the separation of powers mandate of the state Constitution. Almost all commissions are established by the General Assembly and appointed by the governor.

Because the Lottery Commission is established and appointed by the General Assembly, Larisa argued it avoids the veto power of the governor.

But Attorney Thomas Dickinson, who represents Newport Grand Jai Alai, argued that when the commission was created in 1974 by the General Assembly, the governor at the time had the opportunity to veto it.

Many of the legislators who worked to amend the Constitution in 1973 to allow lotteries also created the Lottery Commission the next year, so they clearly knew the constitutional parameters they were setting, Dickinson argued.

But Larisa said all the amendment did was give the General Assembly the power to establish lotteries.

"It didn't say that the judiciary or the executive branch had no power," Larisa said.

It typically takes between two and three months for the Supreme Court to issue a decision.