“It would be easier to steal a bar of gold from Fort Knox than it would be to game the lottery system—by anybody,” Vermont’s lottery commissioner told lawmakers on Thursday after releasing a report sparked by a VTDigger investigation in April.
Commissioner Patrick Delaney again said that despite data and anecdotes indicating that employees and owners of lottery agencies are winning games at high rates, there is no evidence that anyone is bilking the system, or even proof that anything odd is happening at all.
Delaney’s findings, delivered to lawmakers at a joint fiscal committee meeting, formed what was meant to be an investigation required as part of a law passed during the latest legislative session, in response to the VTDigger article.
In the report, Delaney argues that a law to ban store owners and employees, and their families, from playing the Vermont lottery is unnecessary. But he did suggest that the lottery strengthen some of its oversight and security systems.
While no lawmakers openly took issue with Delaney’s recommendation for legislators to take no further action on the matter, and some applauded the report, others voiced concerns.
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, said he believes the Department of Liquor and Lottery adequately carried out its charge to look into the high rate employee lottery winnings.
“It doesn’t appear there needs to be legislation and that’s what we asked for. I think he answered that well,” Sears said of Delaney.
Rep. Bill Lippert, D-Hinseburg, questioned the structure of the investigation: mainly the fact it was conducted by the lottery commission itself. Delaney’s review of the lottery came on the back of an investigation published earlier this year by the former director of the Vermont Lottery, Daniel Rachek, who is now deputy commissioner of the combined liquor and lottery agency.
“If I have a restaurant where there’s concerns about health, I don’t ask the restaurant to do an internal inspection. I ask someone external to come in and see if there’s a problem,” Lippert said.
“I don’t question the integrity of the people who did the report, but I do question whether it helps public perception to have the very entity review itself for concerns.”
Delaney said that to address concerns about the public perception of the Vermont Lottery, going forward the department will no longer let employees at lotto vendors play games while they’re working.
“We do feel that from a perceptual standpoint, there are a couple of issues that are somewhat problematic and those are having retailers and employees cash their own tickets and…gaming while they’re on duty,” he said.
This department’s report indicated that employees would be prohibited from playing the lotto at their place of employment altogether, not just while they’re on the clock. “The DLL will modify its agent agreement to prohibit owners and employees from playing instant ticket Lottery games at their place of employment,” the report reads.
Lippert suggested the Department of Liquor and Lottery should move forward with the broader ban. “I think if you really want to address perception issues, I think perhaps they shouldn’t be purchasing from the place they’re employed at all,” he said.
Rep. Janet Ancel D-Calais, who chairs the joint fiscal committee, said that with its report, the department is moving in the right direction. But she said the legislature should look into whether employees should legally allowed to play the lottery at stores where they work.
“I think it’s a good first step,” Ancel said. “Maybe it should go further than that.”
Delaney said that restricting the way retailers or employees can play the lottery could constitute discrimination.
“It’s a free country,” Delaney said in an interview after the hearing. “Let me be clear about this. We cannot discriminate against a subgroup of businesspeople in this state that support our business.”
