Gov. Mark Dayton mulls fate of Minnesota Lottery online scratchers

Minnesota legislators have once again approved a plan to kill their state lottery’s online operations, but will Gov. Mark Dayton (pictured) approve it?

On Thursday, the state House of Representatives voted 122-6 in favor of legislation that would scrap the Minnesota Lottery’s year-old online operations. The state Senate passed its own version of the bill earlier this month by a margin of 56-8. The bills would also scrap the state’s ‘pay at the pump’ gas station and ATM sales channels.

The Lottery made waves last February by becoming the first US state lottery to offer instant-win online scratch tickets, which critics insist are online slots in all but name. Lottery director Ed Van Petten was immediately accused of overstepping his mandate by not seeking legislative approval for the launch.

Van Petten maintained that online expansion was well within the Lottery’s authority and attempted to smooth the ruffled political feathers by pointing out that, far from cannibalizing convenience store lottery sales, the online site was actually serving as a pretty decent promotional tool.