State lottery stops giving promotional lotto tickets to public officials

COLUMBUS — State lottery officials have agreed to stop handing out promotional lottery tickets to public officials.

The change was outlined in letter sent last week to the state Inspector General’s Office by lottery executive director Michael Dolan.

“...[T]he lottery has completely banned the knowing distribution of promotional items to law enforcement personnel, legislators, state vendors or to public officials having decision-making authority regarding [lottery] matters,” he wrote.

The letter came in response to an investigation after Dolan sent 100 low-value promotional lottery tickets to a state trooper who gave him a warning instead of a ticket for a traffic violation.

According to the investigation report, the lottery commission had distributed nearly 56,000 instant lottery tickets from January 2007 through February of this year.