John Dunagan
Governor Ted's initiative to add video slot machines to the Oregon Lottery drew major ink in the Sunday Statesman-Journal (online S-J article not yet available), but not as much for the machines themselves. In exchange for the slots, the Governor's proposal also wants to cut the retailers' share of the proceeds.
The Lottery Commission meets this coming Wednesday (9 am) at their offices in Salem to vote on the proposal. Public comment is invited from 10 to 11:45 am; the vote will be held afterward.
Obviously, with any infusion of new Lottery revenue comes conflicting desires to allocate it, but the second part of the proposal will bring a whole new intensity to the hearing: the Oregon Restaurant Association, on behalf of the restauranteurs and bar owners, plans to fight the proposal until the cut is removed. The Oregon Education Association, among others, stands to oppose them. They say that the restauranteurs and bar owners have gotten way too much money since video poker was introduced, and would rather see some of that money go to fund the budget, including schools.
(Me, I'd rather see them get rid of Sports Action - much as I love the Ducks, and tolerate the Beavers, I see no reason to throw away our spot in the March Madness rotation so that Bellotti can trot out the U of O Hummer for blue-chip recruits.)
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