Jeremy Alford and Mitch Rabalais / LaPolitics.com
With so much attention directed at the traditional gaming bills that were introduced for the regular session, the Louisiana Lottery Corporation has received nary a political glance at the Capitol lately.
But out of sight doesn’t mean out of mind, especially as government officials, in tough economic times, continue to bank on a revenue stream generated by scratch-offs and pick-a-number tickets.
Asked for an outlook report, Lottery President Rose Hudson told LaPolitics that there are national and regional trends worth tracking that could influence her outfit’s record sales of late. New types of games are growing in popularity, jackpot sizes are increasingly unpredictable and competing state lotto systems are being proposed.
Then there are more immediate issues, like which, if any, of the ongoing session’s key gaming bills will be enacted. There are bills pending in the legislative process related to sports betting, riverboat casinos, the state’s lone land-based casino, video poker, horse racing and more.
Hudson said her office has been mindful of these policy discussions, but she doesn’t see any direct threats for the Lottery from the proposals, some of which expand gaming. That’s because the Lottery has long enjoyed a mutually beneficial business relationship with the state’s casinos, she added, through bulk scratch-off purchases and cross-marketing initiatives.
The Lottery, however, wasn’t completely left out of the regular session shuffle. There are actually two bills, authored by Sen. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, that pulled Hudson and her team directly into the orbit of the Capitol’s annual policymaking gathering.
Carter’s SB 244 is a constitutional amendment that would create three new lottery games. His SB 407 would deposit their proceeds into three separate funds to benefit veterans, seniors and the disabled. Neither has a clear path forward, lawmakers say.
The Carter package got jammed up in the committee process due to a five-year expenditure estimate of $16.4 million, which no one involved wanted, including Lottery officials. Additionally, opponents are concerned about the impact of eliminating old games to make way for the new.
As for the earnings of those current products, this year’s sales are so far up 8.8 percent at the Lottery. But future sales projections are unpredictable across the industry, due primarily to fluctuating jackpots. In other words, when prizes balloon, so do sales.
While new, constitutionally-created games may not be on the horizon, Lottery officials do see opportunities to expand and enhance. Merchandising scratch-offs, like the one produced for the New Orleans Saints professional football team, have been popular and represent a growth area.
Plus other states, such as Georgia and Illinois, have moved some sales online, which is an experiment Lottery officials here are following with interest. But it’s not the only thing.
Lawmakers and politicians in the neighboring states of Mississippi and Alabama have been trying unsuccessfully to create new lottery systems there. The financial impact those two proposed systems would have on Louisiana is difficult to determine, Hudson said, but they’re developing storylines worth watching.
Political History: Before Scalise, there was Johnston
Long before U.S. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was thrust into the developing race for speaker, and prior to subsequently endorsing his perceived opposition, there was another Louisiana politico making power plays on Capitol Hill in the hopes of landing a leadership gig.
No, that wasn’t a reference to former Speaker-elect Bob Livingston or late House Majority Leader Hale Boggs. It was actually a tip of the hat to former U.S. Sen. J. Bennett Johnston, who made two serious bids for majority leader himself.
By the 1980s Johnston had been representing the Bayou State in the Beltway for more than a decade. He had staked out a conservative corner in the Democratic Caucus, but also maintained relationships with liberal lions like late U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts.
If there were ever a time for Johnston to get his own D.C. trophy, it was then. So when Democrats recaptured the majority following the 1986 midterms, Johnston made his move — for majority leader.
Late U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia had led the caucus for the previous six years and was the obvious frontrunner. That mattered little to Johnston; the Shreveport native was undeterred and he almost immediately took aim at Byrd’s leadership style.
Johnston told reporters the party had become rudderless and suggested to others he would be a “better face” for the job, a clear dig at Byrd’s poor performances during television appearances. In response, Byrd told The New York Times, “I can’t help it if I don’t have a pretty face.”
Those tactics, though, were not successful. Unable to corral enough support, Johnston dropped out of the contest before a single vote was cast.
While it’s often true that there are no second place prizes in American politics, there are definitely consolation prizes. In the wake of his loss, Johnston secured the chairmanship of the upper chamber’s energy committee and Byrd publicly pledged to step aside in 1988, clearing a possible path for Johnston to run again.
And that’s exactly what happened. The 1988 race for majority leader found Johnston squared off against Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, who had chaired the high-profile Iran-Contra hearings, and George Mitchell of Maine, who was the deputy pro tem of the Senate and, more importantly, the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Johnston focused on personal meetings with his colleagues — and personal touches, like handwritten letters. As it so happened, that was enough of an effort to deliver a tie for second place with Inouye. Each man had notched 14 votes to 27 for Mitchell, a bit of math that inspired both to withdraw from the race.
In the weeks leading up to the vote, Johnston and others believed he had a fighting chance. The reality, however, was slightly more nuanced. In an oral history recorded years later for Bowdin College, Johnston laughed when recalling his struggles with that 1988 leadership election. “Senators are very cagey,” he said, “and they don’t want to tell you they’re against you.”
They Said It
“I’m not used to making deals in public. I’m very uncomfortable.”
—Senate President John Alario, addressing Appropriations Chair Cameron Henry
“It feels like I’m aging in dog years. For every year I’m down here, it feels like seven.”
—Rep. Rob Shadoin, on legislative service
For more Louisiana political news, visit www.LaPolitics.com or follow Jeremy Alford on Twitter @LaPoliticsNow.