House OKs lottery bill

Santa Fe New Mexican

A bill aimed at increasing New Mexico Lottery ticket sales — and keeping the Legislative Lottery Scholarship fund solvent — cleared another hurdle Wednesday when the House Regulatory and

Public Affairs Committee voted to move it forward.

Senate Bill 355, sponsored by Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, would terminate a requirement that the lottery funnel 30 percent of its annual revenues from ticket sales into the scholarship fund and instead invest more money in higher payoffs and marketing tools to boost ticket sales.

Under Smith’s bill, the lottery would allocate annual revenues to the scholarship fund that are at least equal to the amount the fund receives in 2015. Smith estimated that SB 355 would keep the scholarship fund operating at a minimum of $40 million a year.

The bill also would allow players to use debit cards to buy lottery tickets at the gas pump, which could increase sales.

With three days left in this year’s legislative session, it was unclear Wednesday where the bill would go next, or whether Gov. Susana Martinez would support it.

The scholarship fund, created in 1996, pays for in-state college tuition for eligible New Mexico students. Last year, the state lottery reported $136 million in revenue, providing more than $40 million in scholarship funding. A 2014 state Higher Education Department report noted that about 13,000 students were benefiting from the scholarships.

But as demand for the scholarships has grown, the fund has stagnated due to declining lottery ticket sales.

Lawmakers voted in 2014 to pull $11.5 million from the state general fund and from alcohol excise taxes to provide the program with enough funding to pay full tuition for all students in the program for another year.

An equal number of opponents and supporters spoke about the bill during Wednesday’s meeting.