When Tommy Moses notices a state lottery jackpot exceeding $100 million, he walks into a Tulsa convenience store and purchases a ticket simply because it is “worth the fantasy.”
Moses, 26, said when he daydreams about what he would do if he won, it includes a lot of investing. He isn’t alone in thinking about how the fortune would change his life, and the state of Oklahoma depends on these dreamers to buy tickets to support the beneficiary: education.
Some lawmakers and the Oklahoma Lottery Commission, however, say the program fails to reach its full potential because requirements on how to spend the gross proceeds limit the size of the payout.
To that end, HB 1837 aims to restructure the Oklahoma Lottery in an effort to increase payouts and, as a result, sales. Doing so would mean more funding for education, advocates say. The bill also includes a cap on overhead expenses intended to ensure spending on salaries does not increase with revenue.