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41. Delaware

 

35.55 points

 

 

42. Rhode Island

 

30.68 points

 

Good

Players allowed to claim large prizes anonymously

 

Exempts prizes from state income tax

 

1 year to claim prizes

 

 

 

Bad

% of sales returned to players in the form of prizes one of the lowest

 

Unclaimed prize monies not returned to players

 

Video Lottery operation tends to be more addictive to problem gamblers, one of only 6 states to have Video Lottery

 

Computer number generation for online games

 

Only top level prize is listed for unclaimed prize info, apparently not updated daily

 

Game closeout schedule apparently allows for scratch-offs to be sold after all top prizes claimed

 

Don’t give “Cash Value” of PowerBall jackpot on website

Good

Extensive problem gambling info

 

Profits go to general fund, don’t use the “Education” excuse

 

1 year to claim prizes

 

Bad

 

Don’t give “Cash Value” of PowerBall jackpot on website

 

Video lottery, see Delaware comments

 

Don’t give anything other than overall odds on scratch-off games, not odds for each prize level

 

Game closeout schedule apparently allows for scratch-offs to be sold after all top prizes claimed

 

State tax on lottery winnings

 

 

 

 

 

43. Tennessee

 

26.95 points

 

Good

Do use profits for scholarships, not just a phantom donation to “Education” that just disappears in the overall K-12 budget

 

Website well organized

 

% of sales returned to players in the form of prizes relatively high

Bad

Use computer-generated numbers, recent fiasco and slow response concerning same.

-- Would there be much trust in a roulette wheel that just generated the winning number electronically?

 

Free-ticket prizes, even say "players winning a free ticket in this game are entitled to a free ticket valued at $1" – this implies that the expected value of a “free ticket” is $1, when in fact it is probably near 60 cents

 

Continue to sell scratch-off games after all top-level prizes have been claimed

 

Don’t give anything other than overall odds on scratch-off games, not odds for each prize level

 

Only give top 3 levels of scratch-off prizes unclaimed on website, and only update that information weekly

 

Don’t give “Cash Value” of PowerBall jackpot on website

 

Use “Education” in its name, just what are we teaching students with lottery?

 

Minimal problem gambling info on website

 

Just an observation – CEO compensation as much as 6 times the national average

 

Did not respond to student survey -- so much for our education