CHICAGO (AP) — When Illinois lawmakers voted in 2009 to hire a private company to run the state’s $2 billion-a-year lottery, they had high hopes of making more money that could be funneled into education and construction projects.
Then the company missed sales goals, and two governors tried to fire Northstar Lottery Group. But Northstar remains on the job more than two years later, and the firm is now able to collect millions of dollars more in fees than under its original contract, an Associated Press review found.
