Poll Shows Gov. Corbett Should Give Up Lottery Scheme

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May 08, 2013, 05:16 ET

HARRISBURG, Pa., May 8, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AFSCME Council 13 Executive Director Dave Fillman called on Gov. Corbett to end – finally – his administration's secretive negotiations to outsource management of the state lottery as a new statewide poll found that voters just do not support the governor's proposal.

"The voters understand that there is no good reason to give this valuable asset away. They recognize that there is no good reason to give revenue that could go to seniors in our state to a foreign corporation," Fillman said. "We have given the administration a sound, viable proposal to modernize the lottery and generate more profit for our seniors."

Fillman noted that the Franklin & Marshall poll released today found that voters ranked privatizing the lottery at the absolute bottom of issues that they want Harrisburg to address.

The F&M poll asked voters to respond to 11 issues and privatizing liquor stores and lottery management were the two lowest, according to the poll.

"The governor has been engaged in this effort for months and months. Our lottery is one of the best-managed in the nation. We're setting records for sales and profit. This is a valuable publicly-owned asset and we can and should make it stronger. Our seniors certainly deserve as much," Fillman said.

"The poll is only the latest in a series of surveys over the last several months showing that Pennsylvanians don't buy the Corbett plan," Fillman said. "It's time to stop wasting time and millions of dollars on this failed proposal. They say that their top priority is creating jobs and improving the state's economy; but the Corbett deal would eliminate jobs and send lottery profits overseas."

www.afscme13.org

SOURCE AFSCME Council 13