“They owe our schools millions of dollars and I will be introducing legislation to ensure our schools get what they are owed.” That the California Lottery has a culture of profits first and schools last,” Chang said Tuesday. “The findings today demonstrate what we suspected all along. Ling Ling Chang (R-Diamond Bar), who requested the financial review last year. The audit drew calls for reform at the lottery from state Sen. Yee, the state’s chief fiscal officer, comes after The Times reported this month that the lottery gave $212,500 worth of Scratchers tickets to DeGeneres’ talk show to be handed out to the studio audience.Įach member of the audience was given a $500 bundle of 72 Scratchers tickets as a way to promote the games, but a whistleblower complaint filed by lottery workers said the giveaway was a “misuse of funds” and noted some of the 425 packets were not properly accounted for. The newly launched review by State Controller Betty T. “The Lottery strongly disagrees with CSA’s findings that it owes $69 million to education because compliance with a year-over-year proportionality requirement would be inconsistent with the Lottery’s mission to maximize funding for education,” Johnson wrote in response to the audit. The auditor originally determined that the lottery should have provided $69 million more to education but reduced the amount to $36 million after hearing an explanation from lottery officials. He said the funding formula used by his agency has provided $6.7 billion to education during the last four years, which he said is an increase of more than $1.3 billion from the previous four years. Since the 2010 amendments to the Lottery Act, the lottery’s total operating revenue has increased by 115% and its funding to education has increased by 66%, the audit said.īut Johnson countered that the auditor’s interpretation would have required school funding to be artificially decreased in some years. The audit also said the lottery agency was unable to demonstrate that its prize payout rate is “optimal for maximizing funding for education, leaving it unable to know whether it is diverting too much funding to prize payments.” In addition, the lottery agency too often uses noncompetitive contracts for purchasing, so it may not be getting the best value for its money, the audit said. Howle said the California Lottery failed to provide $36 million that should have gone to education in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2018. “The Lottery has not followed state law, which requires it to increase its funding for education in proportion to its increases in net revenue,” State Auditor Elaine Howle wrote in a letter to Gov. The audit released Tuesday said California schools have suffered as a result of problematic management and contracting at the lottery agency. Separately, the state controller has launched an investigation into a gift of 30,000 Scratchers tickets to “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” first reported by the Los Angeles Times. Includes 100 items: Simmiland, Soko Loco Deluxe, New Colony, Brume, Pear Quest, Jut, Bombini, Dr.The management of the California Lottery was sharply criticized Tuesday by state officials, who released a scathing audit alleging that the agency shortchanged schools by millions of dollars over the last four years, and recommended that most of the money be repaid.
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