Illinois Lottery Superintendent Disputes Reported Conflicts Of Interest
By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 29, 2013 10:00PM
Illinois Lottery Superintendent Michael J. Jones is calling possible conflicts of interest a smokescreen from the real issue of why the private company charged with handling the lottery owes the state money for failing to meet sales projections. The Sun-Times reports Jones and other Lottery employees received tickets to pro basketball, baseball and hockey games (which was questioned by attorneys for Northstar Lottery Group, the company that handles the Illinois Lottery); that Jones hired a consultant to help with Internet lottery sales who received $115,000 for four months of work; and tried to get Northstar to hire his daughter’s ballet company for a promotion.
All of this has happened since Jones was appointed lottery superintendent 18 months ago — even by the standards of Illinois politics, Jones has allegedly been very busy.
Jones told the Sun-Times the criticisms are because of his efforts to hold Northstar accountable for its end of the deal to manage the Lottery since his appointment. Last month the state fined Northstar Lottery Group $20 million for failing to meet sales projections in 2012. Northstar sold $757 in lottery tickets last year, $94 million short of their goal. The clout-heavy company claimed the actual differential was less than what the state claimed and, more important, was a major boost from the $593 million total in lottery tickets sold two years ago.
In fact, Northstar has fallen short of its projections since it took over handling the Lottery in 2011, which Jones said he recognized shortly after his appointment and has been working with a financial team to develop best practices to help Northstar achieve its goals.
Jones took eight trips out of state in his first year as superintendent, which he says was necessary because of the shifting landscape of lotteries from scratch tickets to Internet sales. One of those trips was to Rome to meet with Northstar’s parent company, to see if it was “committed to making privatization work.”