perry wants to sell the lottery. I don't see how this is a good idea. We voted this in, shouldn't we have a say? Perry to propose privatizing Texas Lottery AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry's State of the State address will include a proposal to fully privatize the Texas Lottery by selling it to private interests, a newspaper reported Friday. Perry said the sale could generate a substantial amount of money that could be used for health care and research, the Austin American-Statesman reported. Other states, including Indiana and Illinois, are considering similar proposals, which would let a state collect a large lump sum to replace future lottery revenue. The proposal could generate controversy akin to the outrage that followed the state's decision to turn over state services such as welfare programs and toll roads to national and international corporations. Those deals have been criticized as either not working or a poor bargain. Perry spokesman Robert Black declined to elaborate on the plan or explain how the sale would work. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has proposed letting a private company take over that state's lottery for decades to come, or perhaps even permanently. The company would pay Illinois billions of dollars over the next few years and, in exchange, get to keep money the lottery generates over the long term. The Texas Lottery reported more than $3.77 billion in sales in the 2006 fiscal year, the highest amount in its 14-year history. Those sales resulted in a contribution of $1 billion to the Foundation School Fund, which supports public education in Texas. The timing of the proposal seemed odd to Suzii Paynter, a gambling opponent with the Christian Life Commission. "With a $14 billion surplus, it seems like the last thing we need is a huge infusion of cash," Paynter said. statesman
Do it. A private company whose sole focus is running a lottery will do a superior job of managing the lottery than the State, whose sole purpose is certainly not running a lottery. As a result, the private company will value the lottery higher than the State. A sale makes sense in this situation.
Good grief, you don't know the first thing about finance. Please stop posting on all financial matters.
Why? If I went to the trouble you'd run and hide, like you always do. One has only to look at the privatization record of the state the last several years to see that doing this would be a bad idea. That's as much as I'm going to bother with, Trader_J. You aren't worth the effort. D&D. Effort Starts with an E.
A private company probably would do a better job at running the lottery but they would also take part of the profits. So to support it being privatized you have believe that the cost of having the state run the lottery exceeds the profit they will lose. So one would have to run the numbers and show that the costs out weight the loss of profits. Also is this just a quick financial fix for the short term? Thus selling out future profits for a gain today. It's really that simple.
This is a non-issue. The lottery money didn't improve one school, didn't get one teacher a raise, and it didn't help one kid go to college. But it sure did a good job funding the TAAS/TAKS bureaucracy. Maybe since they're cutting off funding, they'll get rid of that idiocy and real education will have a chance to be done.
You don't know the first thing about government financial management. Please stop posting on all government matters.
In and of itself, this isn't a bad thing because the value of the lottery includes the future revenues. The problem is that government is not good with large sums of money. Instead of spending it responsibility, the huge infusion of cash would just be wasted on crap, and 5 years from now, we'll have a budget problem where people are asking "how do we replace the lottery revenue?"
previous attempts at privatizing major texas organizations such as the good ol' food stamp office and child protective services through accenture have been an utter mess. in fact the cps transfer to privitization is on indefinite hold. the lottery isn't as messed up and convoluted as those two organizations, but it would still be ugly particularly when all the original 14 bill is used up [imho].
All of you are simpletons. 1) The price paid to the State would be reflective of future profits. They would be priced into the value. Otherwise the State would not accept the deal. 2) The State could invest the up-front money which could then earn returns that exceed the foregone annual profits 3) The private company would value the lottery higher than the State, thereby creating value to the State by offering an acceptable price. It's telling that Deckard couldn't defend his position. It's not surprising though. D&D. Go to the Hangout if you can't follow along
If your argument that the state should not sell the lottery is that revenue would be lost, how about we take all industry under state control? Think of how much revenue the government would have! We could help poor people by....making sure they do not have the opportunity the free-market provides. Selling the lottery is a fantastic idea. A private company would operate the lottery far more efficiently. Want revenue? Tax the thing. Reinvest the money you get in the sale. But surely the government should not run lotteries. The government should do what it does best - govern.
I agree to a certain extent...You are correct in #1 & #3, however, you're assuming the private company would want to pay a premium for these services and/or the state wouldn't discount the value to get the money up-front...As for #2, you're right, but just like now, what would the money be used for...We've heard this all before...
of course they would put a premium on future revs...but why would texas want to sell it outright? why not sell it for a lower premium and continue to collect a percentage of the revs like other states are trying to do? wouldn't you think that over the next 2 decades revs from the lotto would only continue to grow with the influx of mexican immigrants/low end income wage earners who are typically the biggest spenders on the poor tax lotto. i dunno...just random speculation on my part.
Great in theory. Never will happen in reality. EVER. And there's the problem with the idea of privatizing the lottery.
