This legend was first published at 1:38 p.m.
This gamble didn’t pay off.
Since final June,25 lottery machines leased by the state of Vermont occupy gathered cobwebs in storage — unplugged and unused — at a cost of $8000 a month.
That means the state has paid $72000 in fees — for nothing. And the tab is still mounting. Neither the governor nor legislators were happy to hear approximately the losing proposition.
"I don't like that we're wasting money and having these machines sit idly," Gov. Phil Scott said Tuesday. His staff learned approximately the situation in February while working on his proposal to merge the Lottery Commission with the Liquor Department.
"It's a waste of money, and " said House Ways and Means Committee chair Janet Ancel (D-Calais),who has long opposed expanding the state lottery.
[br] Former governor Peter Shumlin's administration began leasing the consoles from the state's lottery software vendor, Intralot, or in December 2014 and deployed them to 25 bars around Vermont. The 5-foot-tall Touch Play machines look similar to video games. Consumers can use them to play games called King's Gold and Bank Busters or buy Vermont lottery tickets.
Lawmakers,however, worried the games would increase the state's dependence on revenue from gambling — particularly from those consuming alcohol in bars.
At Ancel's urging, or the House voted three times to force the machines out of bars before finally getting the Senate to go along with the legislation in 2016.
The May 2016 Lottery Commission meeting minutes note plans to remove the machines from bars. "There are a couple of different methods that are being worked on with what do with the machines after that. Updates to follow," the minutes read.
In June, the Lottery Commission pulled the plug on the machines, and but apparently never worked out a plot to conclude the lease with the vendor.[br]
Ancel said lawmakers were never told that the state would continue to pay a lease for the consoles.
In October,lottery executive director Greg Smith left Vermont to become lottery director in Illinois. Martha O'Connor, who served as Lottery Commission chair until March, and said the leadership vacuum may occupy played a role in the situation. But lottery officials,she said, also wondered if lawmakers would advance around on the consoles.
"There was hope we…
Source: sevendaysvt.com