Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton has vetoed a bill that would have ended online scratch-off lottery games and ticket sales at gas pumps and ATMs. Legislators said they will revisit the bill in next legislative session. The bill passed with veto-proof majorities: 126-2 in the Senate, 56-5 in the House. But because the measure passed on the last day of the 2014 session, no override vote is possible.
In his veto letter, Dayton wrote, “With all due respect the authorization for the Lottery stems directly from the people of Minnesota. It appears to me that the executive director is operating within the scope of his legislatively established authority.” Dayton noted when voters approved a state-run lottery in 1988 the legislature created a statute giving the lottery broad powers. He added lottery officials considered the games an important branding tool and a way to attract younger, technology savvy players.
Dayton also urged Minnesota Lottery officials to build better relationships with legislators to avoid future conflicts. He stated, “Legislators have raised concerns that they expect to be kept better informed of the lottery’s efforts. Those constructive professional relationships are essential to the success of any enterprise in the Executive Branch, and I urge the lottery director to re-establish them with legislators before the next legislative session.”
Also, Dayton said he was concerned that the bill partly was the result of other gambling interests’ efforts to protect their operations, such as American Indian tribal casinos and charities that sell pull-tabs. Convenience gas station owners also opposed the sales of tickets at gas pumps, stating customers would not come into the stores for additional purchases. In addition, the governor noted at least one lottery vendor was considering suing the state for breach of contract if the games were banned.
The lottery introduced online games in 2010. But legislators complained they should have been consulted when online scratch-off games debuted in February. State Rep. Joe Hoppe said, “In effect what the governor is saying is, it’s okay for his lottery director, without consent of the legislature to sell lottery tickets anywhere, anyhow in the state of Minnesota. I don’t think that’s right, and I think an overwhelming majority of the legislature agrees with me, and this will not stand. We were more measured and more moderate, and now the governor has thrown all that out the window.”
Several legislators said they plan to pass an even stronger anti-lottery bill in the 2015 session.
The lottery would have had until late October to stop the games. The bill would have allowed online subscription ticket sales to continue for games such as Powerball and Mega Millions.
