August 13, 1975

State Lottery Black Rip-Off

The predictable has occurred sooner than I thought.

The sleazy Ohio lottery has started to smell before its first birthday, proving once again P.T.  Barnum's famous dictum about suckers.

Deputy Director James F.  Dickerson I blandly admits that his staff falsified $2,800 worth of illegally purchased liquor as motel rooms and "snacks" for a "personnel training meeting."  In reality, the expenditures were for a staff party "to boost morale."

"Everybody does it," said Dickerson.

Strangely, this syndrome that drove Richard Nixon from the presidency is accepted by the five-man board of lottery commissioners.

When Lottery Director Robert S. Malaga called for Dickerson's resignation the commissioners reportedly "almost laughed in his face."

Malaga, an attorney prominent in promotion of tennis, promptly resigned.

It turns out that the lottery director is a figure head.  Real power is vested in the commissioners.

As I opined in this column when the lottery was proposed, the entry of the state into legalized gambling is a step back to the old days of graft and politics.

So far, the cheating with state money seems confined to booze and parties.  The politics is more blatant.

Dickerson is a big butter-and-egg man who boasts of being a double-doctorate degree holder, a war veteran, and a business tycoon with large west coast interests.

Turns out that all this expertise of Dickerson is baloney.

He never finished college, fought in the war nor succeeded in anything much.  His experience consists mainly of taking the old Manger Hotel in Cleveland into bankruptcy and conning the lottery commissioners into believing him a "genius."

In case you haven't heard, Dickerson is a candidate for Cleveland mayor on the Democrat ticket.  Malaga is a Republican appointed by Governor James Rhodes.  The lottery commissioners who hired Dickerson are three Democrats and two Republicans appointed by former Governor John Gilligan.

The party affiliation of the whiskey distiller is unknown.

Governor Rhodes named Col.  Robert M. Chiarmonte, formerly head of the State Highway Patrol, to replace Malaga with orders to "clean up" the lottery.

Chairamonte, who will not buy a lottery ticket because he "doesn't gamble," promises to get tough with the lottery staff.  How he can do so with adamant commissioners is a mystery.

His toughest job will be to stimulate lagging lottery sales.

The Ohio lottery is following the same pattern as in other lottery states - slightly higher sales than expected in the first year followed by declining sales thereafter.

Now that the honeymoon of curiosity is over, the gamblers are returning to the number games circulated by racketeers - the odds are better.

The blacks in Cleveland, where the lottery is based and largely supported, are publicly criticized for not buying enough tickets.

To remedy this deplorable situation the lottery commission has hired a black public relations firm to put more soul into the lottery.

This confirms the worst fears of critics of the lottery - that it victimizes the poor.

Every time a black buys a lottery chance he reinforces an unspoken discrimination that his race is the most gullible, a pigeon that is fair game for sharp shooters.

If I was a black I would resent the reverse english racism inherent in the lottery.  However, no one twists arms to force a purchase so one man's rip-off is another man's pleasure.

But, as a citizen of Ohio, I do resent the further degradation of politics.  Politics is the art of moving society to pre-determined and, presumably, worthwhile goals.

When politics is suspect, then our worthwhile goals suffer.  The lottery has no more worthwhile goal than to tap the gullibility of the poor for political purposes that are not readily apparent.

We went through this lottery mess a hundred years ago and tried to stop it with a state constitutional amendment.  We repealed the lottery ban and legislated chicanery.

A few states regret having gotten into the gambling business and are considering stopping.

Ohio should do the same.

Author: Lindsey Williams