It’s been one year since lottery tickets went on sale in Wyoming. Between all three games of chance, ticket sales brought in $20 million and $5.2 million of that went back to winners. So far, local and state governments have not seen any of the profits.
The Wyoming Lottery Corporation – or Wyolotto – decided to pay off the bank loan it used to start the company before transferring money to the state’s treasury department. Wyolotto’s CEO Jon Clontz says it looks like the company will be able to pay back the loan by May of 2016, and hitting that milestone is on everyone’s mind.
"I know we’re all looking forward to paying off the loan and starting to transfer money. We’re going to enjoy seeing that money put to use," he says.
Over the last year, WyoLotto came under fire for not publicly releasing financial information like employee salaries. Clontz says claims that the company has not been transparent are untrue.
"They’ve asked for 15 or 16 different items, we’ve given them all but one. In fact we’ve posted all of that information on the website now," says Clontz.
The one item they have not released is the terms of the bank loan.
State Representative Dave Zwonitzer was the main sponsor of the bill to create a Wyoming Lottery. He says creating the lottery had two main purposes, and neither of them were necessarily meant to bring money to government.
"For our constituents, especially here in Cheyenne, not to have to go out of state to buy their lottery tickets. And the second thing as a small business owner I was looking at, is to help the small businesses of Wyoming. And in those respects I believe it’s been a great success," says Zwonitzer.
Lottery retailers have seen 1 million dollars in commissions.
