Vermont’s liquor and lottery chief said this week he does not plan to conduct his own review of the state’s lottery system, a decision the state’s Senate leader says would contradict a law that went into effect last month.
Patrick Delaney, commissioner of the newly merged Department of Liquor and Lottery, said he instead would rely on findings compiled in May by lottery director Daniel Rachek when reporting back to the Legislature later this year.
The legislation merging the liquor and lottery commissions, Act 1, says “The Commissioner of Liquor and Lottery shall conduct a review of” lottery prize winners and security practices to determine whether lottery agents, employees or their relatives gamed the system, and what should be done about it if so.
That provision was added late in the legislative process, in response to a VtDigger investigation in April showing that people with close ties to lottery agencies — either through family or employment — were winning instant lottery games at suspiciously high rates, which statisticians said were nearly impossible to explain based on luck alone.
VtDigger’s investigation found that at least 117 retailers, or those close to them, had won a major lottery prize — defined as $600 or more, between 2011 and 2016. Collectively, they won nearly $1.8 million. Employees at 29 convenience stores claimed more than $1.4 million in prizes from stores they worked at, or formerly worked at, or from neighboring outlets.
After its publication, Gov. Phil Scott separately asked Rachek, a former FBI agent who was director of the lottery commission before the merger and now is deputy commissioner of the combined body, to review the integrity of the lottery and report back.
Rachek spoke to individuals named in the VtDigger article, compiled data on lottery winnings during the period in question, and determined there was no wrongdoing. He also made recommendations for how the state could shore up its lottery system.
“The report was presented to the governor and we are going to use that report as a baseline for the required report to the Legislature,” Delaney said in an interview on Monday, explaining that he saw no need to do the same work again.
“The report in and of itself deals with the same issues in respect to the lottery game itself and what were perceived to be anomalies in the winners,” he said.
Sen. Tim Ashe, D/P-Chittenden, the leader of the Senate, said that decision would not meet the requirements of the commissioner as outlined in the law.