Thursday, Sept. 9, 2004 | 9:14 a.m.
LANSING, Mich. -- On the bar, in-between a large beer mug and skinny cocktail glass, two lottery tickets draw frequent peeks from Kevin Wood and Michele Benton.
The couple, both 33, anxiously look at their slips and up toward a Nuthouse Sports Grill monitor flashing numbers every five minutes.
They wait -- until there's a match.
"Oh! I won!," Benton said.
For a $1 bet, the Lansing real estate agent wins $11. And the Michigan Lottery gets 34 cents for K-12 public schools.
The Club Keno and Pull Tab games, introduced last October, will generate an extra $60 million for the state's school aid fund this year. By creating new games and making other changes, the lottery expects to set an all-time sales record.
But Lottery Commissioner Gary Peters is worried.
A proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot, he says, would hurt state lottery revenue and decrease dollars for public education. In the past year, the lottery put $586 million in profit into the school aid fund, accounting for 5 percent of the fund's revenue.
The measure would require voters to give their OK before any new gambling could begin in Michigan -- except at American Indian casinos and three Detroit casinos. A vote also would be needed if the lottery starts any new game using table games or player-operated mechanical or electronic devices after Jan. 1, 2004.
"If we're limited," Peters said, school funding is "going to slowly but surely decrease."
Peters says the popularity of most lottery games, except stalwarts such as Daily 3 and Mega Millions, wanes over time. The lottery must offer creative new games to compete with the state's 20 casinos, he says.
The amendment's supporters say the lottery has nothing to worry about -- unless it tries to introduce casino-style games or video slot machines.
"If the state wants to put casino-style gambling into bars and restaurants across Michigan, then the voters in those communities deserve a say," said Roger Martin, spokesman for Let Voters Decide -- YES!
The group, led by former Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick Posthumus, collected more than 443,000 certified signatures to put the issue on the ballot.
Members consist of casinos, who oppose a legislative effort to allow video lottery machines and slot machines in horse tracks. They generally want to curb the expansion of gambling to avoid competition. They're joined by Posthumus and others who dislike gambling for moral and ideological reasons.
"We're caught in the cross-hairs," Peters said.
The amendment's backers stress that Club Keno wouldn't be affected. Instant scratch-off tickets are OK, too.
Martin says the Detroit casinos went through the same process in 1996 before they opened. Voters OK'd the lottery in 1972. The ballot issue simply would give Michigan voters the final decision on what gambling is allowable, he says.
But lottery officials fear the measure, if passed, could affect future revenue.
"It makes management of the lottery that much more difficult," Peters said. "The language is ambiguous enough to have a new court fight."
For example, the lottery wants to introduce self-serve terminals in convenience stores and other businesses as early as next year, saving labor costs and catering to an increasingly time-crunched public.
Peters asks: Is an ATM-like machine a player-operated mechanical or electronic device?
New player-operated games would face a vote, Peters says. He worries public debate in the next two months could pit casinos against horse tracks that want to add video gaming, leaving out any discussion on the ballot issue's effect on the lottery and state education dollars.
He's also concerned because the lottery, under state law, would be barred from spending money to weigh in on future ballot issues.
But Lance Boldrey, an attorney for Atwater Entertainment Associates, part owner of Detroit's MotorCity Casino, said lottery officials are "reading a little too much into this."
He says the measure would simply bring Michigan into line with other states that require voters to decide how much gambling is enough.
Jessie Stipcak, owner of Reno's West Sports Bar in Lansing, grapples with the issue.
"Where do you draw the line?" she said.
Reno's got Club Keno about two-and-a-half weeks ago after seeing its popularity in other bars and restaurants.
Unlike some lottery games, Club Keno is quick. New numbers pop up on the monitor twelve times an hour. Betters often hand the bartender $5 or $10 and play for 30 minutes to an hour.
It's not the instant action one finds at the blackjack or craps table. But the distinction between Club Keno and a casino-style game isn't a huge one.
"I was worried about it at first," Stipcak said. "I didn't want people gambling away all their money. But the players seem pretty happy-go-lucky. They aren't sinking too much money into it. The opportunity to win is there."
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