Attorney General Rejects Corbett's Lottery Privatization Plan

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane has rejected the Corbett Administration’s plan to privatize the management of the Pennsylvania Lottery to a U.K.-based company Camelot Global Services—and Senate Democrats lauded the plan.

"All along we have been opposed to all of this privatization. That's no surprise, Sen. Tim Solobay, D-Canonsburg, said.

He noted that lottery has always turned a profit, and wondered why—instead of allowing another country to manage it "I always thought, 'Why can't we turn around and get a consultant? Why can't our own people do it?"

And that wasn't all that concerned him about the plan.

"I was concerned about folks' jobs. Here's a guy (Gov. Tom Corbett) who's trying to create jobs yet is trying to privatize two of our biggest assets."

Sen. Jay Costa, D-Allegheny County, also called Kane's decision the right one.

“The Attorney General made a proper decision,” Costa said.  “Pennsylvania seniors all Pennsylvania residents can rest easy now that the Attorney General took this action and put a stop to the expansion of gaming without proper authorization.”

“The entire plan was flawed.” Costa said.  “It is clear that there are ways for current employees of the Lottery to be given the latitude to implement changes that will produce better results and even more money being generated.”

At a news conference Thursday in Harrisburg, Kane said that she could not approve the deal negotiated between the Corbett Administration and Camelot. 

She cited several reasons for her denial including that the arrangement infringed on the legislative powers of the General Assembly, that the plan was an illegal expansion of gaming without proper authorization and that the plan involved a waiver of sovereign immunity.

Costa said that he especially appreciated the fact that Kane removed politics from the decision, focused on the legal issues involved in the contract and made the right call on behalf of Pennsylvania’s seniors.