Play lottery online? Lawmakers trying to keep that option open
Buying tickets for this weekend's Powerball drawing is just a click away for Illinois residents, and some lawmakers are looking to extend the state's test-run at selling them online.
State Reps. Ed Sullivan, a Mundelein Republican, and Lou Lang, a Skokie Democrat, are co-sponsoring legislation to make the program permanent.
The Illinois Lottery has been selling tickets online since March of 2012 and, beginning in 2014, through a mobile application. State law says the program can't last longer than 48 months.
A visit to IllinoisLottery.com Friday afternoon showed "$800,000,000" in big blue numbers across the screen and a large, orange "BUY NOW" button underneath.
"Our goal is to not let what is already an existing and successful (program) sunset," Lang said. "We want to continue a program that's working."
Sullivan says the lottery asked him to introduce the legislation and he's still studying the issue.
But not everyone is excited about continuing the program that allows Illinoisans to play the game of chance right from their cellphones.
"People have access to credit cards, and (selling tickets online) makes it too easy for people to gamble and lose," said Anita Bedell, executive director of Illinois Church Action on Alcohol and Addiction Problems.
The legislature is scheduled to meet only a handful of times between now and March. Getting the legislation passed promptly may not be possible, Lang said.
A spokesman for the Illinois Lottery didn't respond to questions about what would happen to online sales later this year if lawmakers didn't act.
"This isn't something that's going to happen real soon," Lang said. "We hope to make sure this happens in the spring session."
In December, the legislature had to act to ensure that lottery winners would be paid in full despite the ongoing budget impasse.
Many winners had stopped getting paid July 1 when the state started operating without a budget in place. When the lottery wasn't paying out, sales numbers dropped by $21 million between September and October.