The Illinois House will be voting today on HB 607, which, ILCAAAP says, is not a "clean up" bill like some legislators are trying to frame it as. It's yet another expansion of gambling in Illinois while stripping away prevention measures. Call your House member this morning through the Capitol Switchboard at 217.782.2000.
Below is a brief synopsis of HB 607's gambling changes and reasons why you should oppose:
HB 607 lets the Governor “select” a private manager for the total management of the Lottery. Was this written for one political insider? With all of the scandals in Illinois and Pay to Play politics, this is outrageous.
HB 607 includes compensation and performance-based bonus for private manager up to 5 % of Lottery Profits. Profits on the Lottery last year were $630 million. The private manager could receive $31.5 million. President Obama has appointed a pay czar to limit bonuses and salaries for corporate executives. The State of Illinois has a $12 billion deficit and $3 billion in unpaid bills. It is outrageous to hire and pay a political insider to run the Lottery!
Programs cannot adequately screen Internet users to prevent underage and non-residents from gambling on the Internet Lottery. Anyone 18 years of age or a resident of Illinois can gamble on the Internet Lottery pilot program, but there are no safeguards to keep underage and non-residents out.
HB 607 does not require the Department to wait for an opinion from the Department of Justice as to the legality of conducting the Lottery on the Internet. The program shall be implemented only if the Department of Justice does not object to the implementation of the program within a reasonable period of time after its review.. (p. 4) ! It takes a year for an opinion from the Department of Justice. Howerver, Sen. Cullerton said on the Senate floor that a reasonable period of time is 90 days. Legislators should wait and follow federal law
HB 607 eliminates prevention provisions to limit the purchase of Lottery tickets. The bill lines out a provision to limit the monthly purchases that may be made from an individual's lottery account to prevent people from losing too much money. (p. 5)
HB 607 expands the type of tickets to be sold on the Internet – Instant “Scratch off” Tickets. The original bill limited the types of tickets sold on the Internet to Lotto and Mega Million, which account for 25% of Lottery sales. HB 607 includes a provision to sell lottery tickets “that are not limited to just these games”. (p. 5) The majority of Lottery tickets sold are scratch off tickets. The speed of the Internet will allow people to gamble quickly and lose their paychecks in a few hours. There are no “stops” on the Internet. You could gamble 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!
HB 607 allows the Department to operate a website portal for anyone 18 and older to purchase lottery tickets via subscription. This will allow gamblers to lose large sums of money more quickly.
HB 607 contains a provision to include non-residents to gamble on the Internet Lottery.
This is against federal law.
HB 607 lines out a provision that protects gamblers by eliminating the requirement that Internet Lottery accounts have a personal identification number (PIN). The use of a PIN helps prevent the unauthorized use of an Internet Lottery account.
