During its 2005 session, a bill moved through the Florida Legislature without drawing much attention. Late last month, Gov. Jeb Bush signed it into law. Again, it received little notice in the news.
Players of online lottery games -- Lotto, Mega Money, Fantasy 5, Cash 3 and Play 4 -- will find it interesting: It allows the Lottery Department to divert a larger percentage of money to prizes in those games.
Those with concerns about the state's education system will also find it interesting: In theory, while money will be diverted from the Education Enhancement Trust Fund, better payouts will attract more ticket buyers. More ticket sales generate more money for the trust fund to replace what has been diverted.
In theory, that is.
It worked with the instant scratch-off games, The Palm Beach Post reported recently. (The Post is one of the few newspapers -- it may be the only one -- that has reported on the state's latest shell game.) In 2002, lottery officials began to increase the payouts for scratch-off tickets.
By 2004, sales had more than doubled -- from $662 million to $1.36 billion. By comparison, online sales grew by only 14 percent during the same period.
Whether the same will hold true for online games is conjecture. Pam Johnson, an analyst at the state's Bureau of Economic and Demographic Research, told The Post that increasing prize money for scratch-off games results in a "good transfer" to the education fund. But she added: "Basically, we don't expect to see nearly the same kind of response."
A staff analysis showed that if the current payout level of 50 percent of the ticket sales was increased to 60 percent, sales would increase by nearly $1 billion. But of that, the majority -- $774.3 million -- would be returned to winners. The state would get an extra $109 million for administration costs. Education comes in last with an extra $104 million.
Under current law, 39 percent of the revenue from ticket sales is required to go to the Education Trust Fund. Under the new provision, the amount would be reduced to as little as 29 percent, with the legislative requirement that "percentages must be established by the lottery in a manner designed to maximize deposits in the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund."
Although lottery officials haven't come up with a plan on how to disburse the extra money to players, it may be used to increase the prize for picking all six Lotto numbers. It might be used to make larger three-, four-, and five-number payouts. Or it could be applied to other online games.
Lottery officials told The Post that the increase of larger prizes won't come all at one. Online payouts will increase from 50 percent to 53 percent this year, go up another 2 percent in 2006, then increase soon after that, possibly to the 60 percent figure.
Bush, who has opposed expansion of gambling in the state, had no problem signing the bill to encourage more ticket sales of the lottery. He said the bill helped the lottery, which helps students by paying for Bright Futures scholarships -- the program that can provide up to 100 percent of the tuition costs to state universities and community colleges for good students.
Even with sharp increases in ticket sales -- and a larger increase to the Education Trust Fund -- the Bright Futures cost, with tuition increases, will certainly outstrip the state's ability to fund them. Unless the Legislature deals realistically with the funding problem -- which may mean making the hard choice of reducing the amount paid by Bright Futures or limiting their use to financially needy students -- the funding gap will continue to grow.
The shell game the Legislature is playing simply does little more than move money around rather than creating more of it.
