Lottery stops giving away tickets

By Marc Kovac

The lottery commission had given away 56,000 instant tickets.

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

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

“The 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 had given 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. The tickets had a face value of $1-$2, and “the odds of winning a significant amount of cash from these promotional lottery tickets were minimum.”

Their distribution has been common practice in Ohio and at other states’ lottery commissions.

But earlier this year, the inspector general noted that the distribution of promotional lottery tickets to public officials was “entirely inappropriate,” “lacking in sound judgment and improper.”

The inspector general also found that Dolan acted improperly in sending the tickets to the trooper.

The report recommended that the lottery commission establish a new policy to prohibit distribution of promotional items to public officials and others doing business with the state or involved with commission business.

In his response letter to investigators, Dolan wrote that his office would complete “an extensive review of lottery promotional practices” and that “added controls deemed necessary to monitor and control lottery promotions will be implemented as necessary.”