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Lawmaker Calls On Quinn To Nix Private Company That Runs Lottery

Illinois Lottery

A state lawmaker wants Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to fire the company responsible for running the state’s lottery.

Chicago-based Northstar Lottery Group took over the lottery in 2011 and defends its performance, saying the company has succeeded in growing revenues for the state.
But state Representative Jack Franks, a Democrat from Marengo, says privatizing the lottery has been a disaster, as it has continually failed to meet goals.
 
“And here we are paying them $100 million to go down.  It’s ludicrous. It’s—it’s tantamount to lunacy. There’s no reason to be doing this,” Franks said.
 
Franks says Northstar has come up 445 million dollars short than initially promised. 
He says that’s money lost that should be available to fill budget gaps in state operations.
He says the state should no longer contract out running the lottery and rather return to running it “in-house.”
 
In a statement, Northstar other states have followed Illinois' example after seeing the company's success.

Lee Strubinger completed the University of Illinois Springfield's Public Affairs Reporting graduate program and is currently in Colorado.
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