State can’t take any more chances with the lottery

The Connecticut Lottery Corp. needs an overhaul. Last May, we suggested that “The Legislature needs to take a deep dive into the operations of the lottery, starting with a reconsideration of its status as a ‘quasi-state’ agency as well as more independent oversight.”

“Quasi” may be our least-favorite adjective in Connecticut, where it seems to translate to “unchecked.”

We offered that recommendation in the wake of the lottery’s response to a scandal involving operators palming cash from the now-defunct 5 Card Cash game.

The glitch in the game was the result of sloppy work, but the lottery’s response was the real indicator that its current structure needs to be tossed out like a losing card bought at the corner bodega.

Lottery officials said they stayed mum about the problem to shield ticket sales. The Department of Consumer Protection was not notified until a year after the game made its debut.

There were several other problems with the lottery at the time, including an exit package for its outgoing president that was manipulated to be overly generous.

A different agency might respond to the scope of its mistakes with a measure of humility. But hubris is so engrained in the Connecticut Lottery that it seems to be placing its bet on the public having a short attention span.

Rather than start 2018 with a fresh slate, another milliondollar scandal emerged when the New Year’s Super Draw game excluded almost half of the tickets from the pool. It is the lottery’s third such blunder since 2015. The game’s real loser was our impoverished state, which came up short $1 million.

The lottery responded by placing employees on leave. The state Department of Consumer Protection, which has oversight of the lottery, launched yet another investigation, along with an order that the disciplinary actions cease.

The board of directors ignored the mandate and, rather than welcome transparency, called for a probe into Consumer Protection for overstepping its bounds.

“You can’t run an agency if you are going to allow outside agencies to tell you when to discipline, how to discipline and who to discipline,” Lottery Corp. Board Chairman Don DeFronzo said.

Sure, you can — it’s called oversight.

Confused? Yes, it feels like a streetcorner game of three-card monte with higher stakes. Consumer Protection was acting in response to a bipartisan request from Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, and Rep. Joe Verrengia, D-West Hartford. So, in effect, they are trying to ignore a directive from the General Assembly.

Fasano used the same three words last week to describe the lottery that he used last spring, deeming the agency “out of control.”

Lotteries thrive on a belief in luck. We don’t believe in luck when there’s more transparency at a Thursday night church bingo game.

The General Assembly shouldn’t take more chances. It may be hard to scratch away the “quasi,” but more measures need to be taken to protect the “public.”

We don’t believe in luck when there’s more transparency at a Thursday night church bingo game.