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Committee sends House Bill 504 to the floor to curb bulk lottery-ticket purchases, sponsors say fiscal impact is minimal
Summary
Sen. Jim Guthrie and Idaho State Lottery Director Andrew Arulanandam described House Bill 504 as a measure to limit bulk purchases that target remaining prizes; the director told the committee the fiscal impact would be essentially zero and the committee voted to send the bill to the floor with a do-pass recommendation.
Sen. Jim Guthrie presented House Bill 504 to the Senate State Affairs Committee, saying the measure aims to limit bulk purchases of instant lottery tickets after outside groups and syndicates used public records and bulk buying to target large remaining prizes. Guthrie explained sponsors are seeking a mechanism to detect and deter bulk purchases that concentrate prizes outside Idaho communities: the bill would trigger an alert for purchases of $5,000 within a specified period to flag suspicious activity.
Andrew Arulanandam, director of the Idaho State Lottery and the Idaho State Liquor Division, told the committee the bill's fiscal impact "would essentially be 0," because games would still sell out though possibly more slowly, and winners would continue to pay taxes in Idaho. He offered examples of in-state winners and described enforcement options including alerts to staff, potential sanctions on retailers and video surveillance checks.
Following the presentations, the committee voted to send House Bill 504 to the floor with a 'do pass' recommendation (motion by Senator Taves, seconded by Senator Rechy); the motion carried by voice vote with no recorded opposition.
Next steps: H 504 will proceed to the full floor for further consideration.
