Governor Corbett announced that the deal to outsource the lottery is done, at least for now. He said that Pennsylvania will not extend the Lottery Private Management Agreement bid with British firm Camelot Global. The announcement comes the day before the 11th extension of the bid was set to expire. State Senator Rob Teplitz says Pennsylvania taxpayers were the losers in a failed attempt to privatize the lottery. He says the state spent $4 million trying to privatize, something he’s been against since the process began in the spring of 2012.
“That`s money that should have been going to seniors, the whole purpose of the lottery. and it`s unfortunate that we`ve spent that money as a state but we haven`t ended up further down the line than we were originally,” says Teplitz
The Commonwealth Foundation, a conservative think tank in Harrisburg, says ending this bid was a missed opportunity.
“ It`s a missed opportunity because it would have been a guaranteed increase in revenue that would benefit seniors programs and would save tax payers.Now we`re back to the drawing board, “ says Nathan Benefield, Commonwealth Foundation
The Governor said the deal would have assured about $34 billion in profit that could have been invested in senior programs. This all comes month after Attorney General Kathleen Kane challenged the bid stating it was illegal. What isn’t clear is whether the Governor will continue to pursue privatizing the lottery. He said in a statement that they will continue to explore ways to enhance the lottery’s success.