Wagner Raises Concerns Over Potential Changes To Lottery
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- It's getting down to the wire for Gov. Tom Corbett to okay a deal with a British company to take over the Pennsylvania lottery, but outgoing Pa. Auditor General Jack Wagner is raising some red flags.
The outgoing Wagner says he wants to know more about the British company, Camelot Global Services, and questions why the company is the only bidder.
"Raising this red flag today and saying that anytime, anywhere where you do not see competition in the process, where you do not see multiple bidders in the process, the taxpayers have to be very concerned about the final deal being in their best interest," Wagner said.
In the last fiscal year, the lottery had more than $3.5 billion in sales and more than $1 billion in profits, all of which go to programs for senior citizens in the state.
Created in 1971, the Pa. lottery one of the oldest and most established in the country.
So, if it isn't broke, then why fix it?
Wagner says he is not opposed to privatizing the lottery; but adds, "Why only a singular bidder that is a foreign entity? We don't even know who owns that company."
"There's a lot of unanswered questions about the proposal to privatize something that is very, very successful," Wagner said.
Wagner went on to give examples of programs with one bidder where the taxpayer ended up footing the bill; one was the wine kiosk program in grocery stores.
Wagner says as the fiscal watchdog for another few weeks, he is concerned about the taxpayers' best interest.
RELATED LINKS
Pennsylvania Lottery Could Be Run By British Company (11/21/12)
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