10 Idaho legislators just killed Powerball in Idaho based on crazy suspicions, fears

Editor’s note: This editorial has been updated to clarify the position of Rep. Chris Mathias on the bill.

A panel of Idaho legislators killed the Powerball lottery game in the state over bizarre suspicions about other countries participating in the lottery.

Just 10 legislators on the House State Affairs Committee were able to make a decision to end Powerball, which does $28 million in sales annually in Idaho and filters $14 million to Idaho schools.

A new bill, House Bill 72, was needed because Powerball, governed by the Multi-State Lottery Association, will be including Australia and the United Kingdom; current Idaho law allows lotteries in the state played by people only in the U.S. and Canada.

Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, said she didn’t want money going to Australia, where government officials might use revenue to fund causes she dislikes, such as anti-gun measures, “which they see as good and we see as not good,” according to The Associated Press. Illinois also has strict gun laws, and it has Powerball.

Not to be left out, even Democrats got in on the crazy talk.

“My concern is the delegation of authority, and essentially turning over our sovereignty to this Multi-State Lottery Association,” said Rep. Chris Mathias, D-Boise. “I think we should be concerned that they could be persuaded, they could be lobbied heavily by countries that we are not particularly friendly with.”

What are they talking about?

Mathias made a motion to have the bill amended “to fix that problem or at least perceived problem.” A substitute motion to kill the Powerball bill passed, 10-4, with Mathias and three other legislators voting against killing the bill.

There may be some legitimate concerns about Powerball, such as how much it takes out of the economy, how it can feed into a gambling addiction, how it preys on the poor and how little money actually filters down to individual school districts.

But these legislators appeared to base such a consequential decision not on legitimate concerns, but once again on baseless fears and conspiracies about globalism and sovereignty. Some legislators, such as Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, thought the odds of winning went down with an increase in the number of players, which is wrong.

“The odds will worsen, I think — I’m not a mathematician,” Skaug said. And yet, Skaug just made a $28 million decision based on incorrect math.

Idaho might be able to make up the $14 million in education funding that it gets from Powerball from other games, such as MegaMillions, but chances are that players who like Powerball and its huge jackpots will drive to neighboring states to play, taking their money with them and feeding other states’ coffers.

With Australia and Great Britain joining Powerball, we’ll likely see even larger prizes — larger than the already obscene jackpots of hundreds of millions of dollars. The Powerball jackpot hit $1.586 billion in January 2016, the largest ever.

Idaho now will join Nevada and Utah as other states in the West that don’t have Powerball. But Oregon, Washington, Wyoming and Montana all do, and those are easy drives for many Idahoans tempted by the possibility of big payouts.

We appreciate legitimate concerns about the lottery in general, and support a full and open debate about the merits, as well as the costs and benefits.

But to have 10 people in one legislative committee make such a major decision based on unfounded fears is irresponsible.

This story was originally published March 10, 2021 at 4:55 PM.