Online lottery sales? Not so fast

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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Lottery fever raged nationwide and in Iowa in the run-up to last week's Mega Millions' record jackpot of $656 million.

The Iowa Lottery sold nearly $9.7 million in tickets, including nearly $3.2 million worth on March 30 alone. At peak sales times, the rate reached about 6,000 per minute. And while none of the three individual winners was an Iowa resident, the state treasury claimed a big victory: $3.4 million in tax revenue.

But could it have been even more if tickets could have been bought online?

Well, Iowa Lottery officials are interested. They're monitoring the Illinois Lottery, which last week became the nation's first state lottery to permit online purchase.

Should Iowa follow suit?

Not until there's compelling evidence that the benefits would outweigh the downsides. Among the questions we think need to be considered:

First, what's the crying need for online sales, given the already heavy traffic at stores where tickets are sold? Since its inception in 1985, the Iowa Lottery has generated more than $1.3 billion in profits to the state, the majority of which since 1992 has gone into the general fund budget. Sales aren't slowing down. In fiscal year 2011, they totaled a record $271.4 million.

How much more dependent on lottery money should our state government become?

Would online access accelerate gambling addiction problems? (Note: only about 1 percent of tax revenues have gone to treatment programs.)

Would there be that much net gain for the state if more Iowans played the Lottery online instead of buying at the stores where they shop?

And, in that scenario, would many small businesses that sell lottery tickets be hurt by losing customers in who drop in to buy a lottery ticket and wind up making other purchases?

Let's not rush to online, Iowa Lottery.

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