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State of Georgia to unveil online lottery

Legislative hiccups and lobbies could delay the plan

Tuesday 9th March 2004



The state of Georgia is now working on a plan that will allow the sale of lottery tickets on the Internet. With the margin in the Georgia House at 131-32, the Georgia Legislature voted overwhelming last week to make state lottery tickets available online. The move could generate millions of dollars for the state coffer, but before that becomes a reality, the proposal must first be approved by the Senate and signed by the governor.

‘There are no lotteries in the US that are currently selling their products over the Internet. I'm sure that the industry as a whole will be interested in seeing how the issue unfolds in Georgia,’ says David Gale, Executive Director of the North American Association of Lotteries.

The government move has already created opposition from people like Randy Hicks of the Georgia Family Council. ‘It's public policy at its worst and regressive taxation at its worst,' he says. Hicks points out that the majority of people who play the lottery are those who can least afford it and such a plan to buy online lottery tickets will only ring up from debt for such citizens.

Another issue that needs to be weeded out is is the question of whether Internet lottery sales are legal under federal law. Legal experts say one provision in the Internet lottery proposal allows people to buy tickets using credit instead of cash.

‘This has been a fundamental flaw with the lottery from the very beginning. Basically, to feed the beast, the government has to find more ways to get people to spend money irresponsibly,’ critiques Hicks.




Source: OnlineCasinoNews