Stephen Ohlemacher
Plain Dealer Bureau

Columbus- Anti-gambling groups asked a Franklin County judge to stop Ohio from joining a multistate lottery yesterday, just eight days before the state is scheduled to start selling tickets for the new Mega Millions game.

The groups, led by the Ohio Roundtable and the United Methodist Church, argued that it was unconstitutional for Ohio to join the game, in part because some of the profits will go to the eight other states that participate in the lottery. The Ohio Constitution requires that all lottery profits go to a special fund dedicated to primary and secondary education in the state. "Virginia is not going to send Ohio its net proceeds so we can fund education in Ohio," Donald McTigue, a Columbus lawyer representing the anti-gambling groups, said during the one-day trial.

Lawyers for the state argued that Mega Millions will be just like any other lottery game, except the prize pool will be generated and shared by players in nine states, creating jackpots much larger than Ohio could alone.

All the profits generated in Ohio will stay in Ohio, said Mark Landes, a Columbus lawyer hired by the Ohio attorney general's office to argue the case.

Lottery Director Dennis Kennedy testified that he viewed Mega Millions as nine separate lotteries, with a shared jackpot. But McTigue was able to get Kennedy to acknowledge that tickets sold in Ohio would generate money that must go out of state to pay jackpot winners. Kennedy termed those payments "expenses."

Common Pleas Judge Daniel Hogan said he expected to rule in the next week or two on whether it is constitutional for Ohio to offer the game. Lottery officials said they planned to start selling tickets May 15, for the first drawing two days later, unless the judge orders otherwise.

The state legislature gave Gov. Bob Taft the authority to join a multistate lottery in December as part of a law designed to eliminate a $1.5 billion state budget deficit. Participation in a multistate lottery is expected to generate an additional $41 million a year, which would help stabilize falling lottery profits.

In February, the Ohio Lottery Commission announced plans to join the Big Game, which will be transformed into Mega Millions after the final Big Game drawing next Tuesday.

Mega Millions will have a minimum jackpot of $10 million, with the average jackpot expected to be $80 million. Ohio's largest Super Lotto Plus jackpot was $75 million, won in April.

McTigue argued in court yesterday that the Ohio Constitution has a broad ban on lotteries, with narrow exceptions created in 1970s. Among his arguments:

The Ohio Constitution requires that any lottery be run by an Ohio government agency. Mega Millions will not be run by an Ohio agency in other states. State lawyers argued that Ohio's share of the lottery will be run by a state agency.

The Ohio Constitution states: "No bill shall contain more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title." The 278-page bill authorizing the multistate lottery included many items, from changing the way some social services are managed to eliminating tax credits to plug the $1.5 billion budget hole.

State lawyers argued that all sections of the bill have a common theme - they either raise or appropriate money.

Contact Stephen Ohlemacher at:

sohlemacher@plaind.com, 800-228-8272