Posted on 03/31/2009 11:28:48 AM PDT by buccaneer81
Lottery boss gave 100 tickets to state trooper, report says Tuesday, March 31, 2009 1:12 PM By James Nash THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Read the report
* Click here to read the full report from the Ohio Inspector General's Office (PDF).
The head of the Ohio Lottery improperly gave 100 lottery tickets to a state trooper who pulled him over near Mansfield, the state watchdog said today.
The Ohio Inspector General's office faulted Michael A. Dolan, executive director of the Ohio Lottery, for giving the trooper 100 promotional lottery tickets after he was pulled over in January and not cited.
Dolan, a former Cleveland councilman whom Gov. Ted Strickland named to head the lottery in 2007, had been driving without a front license plate and was not wearing his seat belt. He told the trooper that he was on his way to Columbus to meet with Strickland.
He wrote a letter to the trooper, James M. Baker, thanking him for the "courtesy extended to me yesterday," and enclosed the lottery tickets.
Dolan told investigators that the lottery routinely issues promotional tickets to law enforcement agents and others.
But the inspector general said Dolan's actions were "lacking in sound judgment and improper." The report recommended the state establish a policy on such activities, but there were no further ramifications for Dolan.
At least Dolan didn’t point out to the Trooper, which one of the 100 tickets was the WINNING TICKET!
Promotional??? Sounds corrupt from the get-go.
Perhaps a come-on for the retailers who sell tickets. Nothing wrong in that case.
Well, that'll teach him to report it.
Why do retailers need come-ons for lottery tickets at all? The people that are going to buy them are going to buy them regardless and the revenues are all supposed to be going to government "for the children". They're stealing from the chi'ren's moufs.
Could be handouts to regular customers, or an incentive to sell a particular game. There are more than 50 scratch games running in Ohio at any one time, and not every retailer can dedicate the space and the accounting time to that many.
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