February 9, 2012

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Dog racing days numbered in Iowa?

February 8, 2012 By

Bills that would end greyhound racing in Iowa are moving on two tracks at the statehouse.

Early this morning, a three-member panel in the Iowa House reviewed a plan that would let the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs and the Mystique Casino in Dubuque stop subsidizing the prizes for dog races, effectively ending greyhound racing at those two facilities. Representative Kevin Koester, a Republican from Ankeny, says there are “clear signals” nationally that the days of dog racing are numbered.

“Having spent time listening to both sides, the issue comes down to not if the dog racing by greyhounds will last forever…it’s a matter of when…it clearly is going to end,” Koester says.

Representative Brian Moore, a Democrat from Zwingle, says this proposal violates the “integrity” of the agreement state officials struck in 1983 when they legalized greyhound racing.

“I think we need to honor this business,” Moore says. “There’s too many times that a particular side isn’t making out as well as the other side and then we think we have to yank the rug out from under them.”

Early this month another bill on the subject cleared an initial hurdle in the Iowa Senate. That legislation would have the casinos in Council Bluffs and Dubuque pay the state $70 million over seven years in exchange for ending greyhound racing in their facilities.

Casino representatives suggest there are often more dogs than people at the greyhound parks in Iowa, while a lobbyist for the greyhound industry says the casinos have stopped promoting the races, making it difficult for patrons to follow the action. According to a casino lobbyist, 27 greyhound tracks around the country have closed in the past five years, leaving just 23 operating today.

Filed Under: Featured Story, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

Legislators explore scenarios for unclaimed Hot Lotto jackpot (audio)

January 31, 2012 By

Back of winning Hot Lotto ticket.

The Iowa Lottery’s legal counsel says state law enforcement officials continue to investigate the mysterious case of the abandoned $14 million ”Hot Lotto” jackpot because of the “red flags that have arisen.” 

Lottery officials aren’t revealing just what those “red flags” may be, though.

A panel of state legislators today questioned lottery officials about the case. The New York lawyer who said he was representing the anonymous winner withdrew the claim last week. The winning ticket, encased in a plastic bag, was passed around to members of the legislature’s Government Oversight Committee. Then the lottery’s security chief put the bagged ticket in the pocket of his suit jacket.

A couple of lawmakers joked that the ticket was theirs. Then various committee members spent nearly an hour asking questions about what would have happened if the winner was an illegal immigrant or the ticket purchaser had died.

Senator Tom Courtney, a Democrat from Burlington, asked a simple question: ”What’s left to investigate now that, you know, it’s been turned down and rejected and everything?”

Lottery officials have repeatedy said the New York attorney did not provide information so security officials could determine that the ticket was legally purchased, legally possessed and legally presented for the prize. Lottery C.E.O. Terry Rich stressed that the case is now in the hands of other authorities.

“I felt really comfortable with this process,”Rich told legislators, “…This was handled in a proper way and had the best outcome for the state of Iowa — protected the citizens of the State of Iowa, no doubt.”

Lottery security chief Steve Bogle hinted at but did not reveal what “red flags” in this case still may be under investigation.

“Because of the uniqueness of the situation and the refusal to answer the questions and provide us the information we need, along with some other information that we were made aware of, we requested assistance from the (Division of Criminal Investigation) and the attorney general’s office,” Bogle said.

Bogle and other lottery officials met with prosecutors and D.C.I. agents yesterday.

Lottery vice president Mary Neubauer suggested there’s a reason the public — and legislators themselves — are so fascinated by this case.

“What would make some voluntarily just say: ‘Never mind. I don’t want $10 million,’” Neubauer said. “That’s the question. We may never know.”

The winning ticket was purchased in December of 2010 and presented at lottery headquarters nearly a year later — less than two hours before the deadline.

AUDIO of Hot Lotto jackpot briefing before legislature’s Government Oversight Committee.

Filed Under: Human Interest, News, Politics & Government Tagged With:

Mystery surrounding winning “Hot Lotto” ticket deepens (audio)

January 26, 2012 By

Iowa Lottery headquarters in Des Moines.

The claim on an estimated $14 million “Hot Lotto” jackpot has been withdrawn, but it may not be the final chapter in this bizarre story as state law enforcement agencies continue to investigate.

Iowa Lottery C.E.O. Terry Rich spoke with reporters this evening.

“From the beginning we knew this was a unique case and we set up, as we do with every lottery claim, certain security protocols in order to award the prizes and from the beginning we had not received the information that we had requested,” Rich said.

The New York attorney who signed his name on the winning ticket has said he was acting as a legal representative of an anonymous trust. Attorney Crawford Shaw told the Reuters News Service he “will not argue” anymore with Lottery officials who established a deadline of three o’clock Friday afternoon for revealing who had purchased the ticket. State law requires the names and addresses of Lottery winners be made public.

“It’s been one of the strangest lottery claims that we’ve had in the 26-year history of the Iowa Lottery and, really, as we talk to lotteries across the United States an unusual circumstance even with that,” Rich said tonight. “But I think this, for our chapter, brings to a close a very interesting and unique situation.”

The Iowa Attorney General’s office and the state Department of Criminal Investigation issued a written statement this evening, saying the two agencies “will continue their investigation” into the mystery of this winning ticket “in order to ensure the integrity of the Lottery and to determine whether those involved complied with state law.”

The winning ticket was purchased in December of 2010, but it wasn’t submitted to Lottery headquarters in Des Moines until late December of 2011, less than two hours before the deadline. The lottery’s CEO says the unclaimed jackpot will be put back into the pool for another prize.

“We love giving money away…but I’m sure not disappointed that the proper procedures worked in this case, that by following the routine that we do each and every day to verify this that it came to a conclusion that ultimately still gets the money back to winners and players who play lotteries across America,” Rich said.

Officials from the attorney general’s office and the D.C.I. have declined to comment further on their investigation.

The winning ticket was sent via FedEx to a Des Moines law firm and representatives of that firm submitted the ticket to lottery officials in late December. The Des Moines law firm issued a written statement indicating the winner or winners of the jackpot would have allowed the money to be given away to charities, but would insist on remaining anonymous.

AUDIO of Iowa Lottery news conference.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Featured Story, Human Interest, News Tagged With: ,

Iowa Lottery puts Friday deadline on information for Hot Lotto jackpot ticket

January 23, 2012 By

 

Iowa Lottery headquarters in Des Moines.

The Iowa Lottery issued an ultimatum today to the lawyer who turned in a winning Hot Lotto ticket claiming he represented a trust which owns the ticket.

Iowa Lottery C.E.O., Terry Rich, says the lawyer must tell the lottery the timeline for the purchase of the ticket, each individual that possessed the ticket and the birthdates and phone numbers of the people by 3 p.m. Friday.

“If in fact we don’t receive the information requested, it is my belief that the security department will recommend to me that we deny payment of this Hot Lotto jackpot, and we will make the decision at that point after three o’clock this Friday,” Rich told reporters.

The ticket is worth over $14-million and was turned in by Attorney Crawford Shaw two hours before the ticket was to expire on December 29th.

Terry Rich

Rich and lottery security officials have met with Shaw, but Rich says Shaw has not provided all the information they asked for to confirm the claim is legitimate.

 ”And truly to me, from the very beginning and everything we’ve talked about, it’s our opinion that the citizens of Iowa deserve to know the story, and that’s what we’re trying to do when all is said and done,” Rich says.

Rich says this is the first time this sort of situation has happened with a jackpot and they decided that after one month of waiting, it was time to set a deadline. If the deadline passes without the information, Rich says the burden then falls on the ticketholder to prove they hold a legal claim.

“From there then it really goes to the owner of the ticket, whether they decided they are the rightful owner and may want to go to a court of law to decide. The point is, we are not going to pay out and will continue to have the money during the process,” Rich says.

He says it’s likely the ticket owner would have to answer the same questions the lottery is asking if they did go to court, so they would be better off to give the information now and be done with it.

Back of winning Hot Lotto ticket.

Rich says if 3 o’clock Friday passes and they don’t have the information, he will consult with his staff and the Attorney General’s office and make a determination on what to do. “It may take a few days… at least it sets us a standard, it sets us a date a given point in time that gives us some closure on where we want to go at this point,” Rich says.

Rich says they have learned that Shaw is associated with criminal proceedings and bankruptcy filings in New York and Delaware, but they don’t know if that has anything to do with the winning ticket.

They also learned during the January 17th meeting that Shaw misspelled the name of the trust on the back of the ticket when he signed it, but Rich said again they don’t know what that means regarding the ability of the ticket owner to collect.

Filed Under: News, Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With: ,

Three casinos hit with state fines for violations

January 14, 2012 By

The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission hit the Riverside Casino with a $20,000 fine this week for allowing an underage person to get onto the gambling floor. It was the second recent violation for the facility.

General manager Dan Franz spoke to the commission. “We certainly regret that this happened, we take it very seriously, we take our responsibility to maintain the integerity of the gaming floor very seriously. And quite frankly to be up here again the second time within a year regarding a violation, we’re embarrassed by that, and don’t feel good about it at all,” Franz said.

Franz says this case was a simple mistake as the minor had a paper I-D and it couldn’t be scanned by the security officer. Franz says the man looked at the I-D and immediately started looking at the height and weight listed and missed the date of the person’s birth. “There’s really no other excuse for it, other than he made a mistake,” Franz said.

Riverside also paid a $20,000r fine for the first instance, and would have to pay $30,000 if there is another problem before April.

The Racing and Gaming Commission also fined Harrahs Casino and the Horshoe Casino, both in Council Bluffs, $3,000 each for allowing someone who had banned themself from gambling to enter the casinos. Commission administrator Jack Ketterer says the casinos have to be vigilant in preventing people who “self exclude” themselves from gambling.

“People do that all the time, and there’s not any way for the licensees to catch all these people, but what we do want them to do is when they have a taxable jackpot….that they compare that person’s name with the name on the self exclusion list and their Social Security number,” Ketterer said. He says these two casinos did not catch the self exclusions and allowed the people to collect jackpots.

Any jackpot over $1,200 requires identification before it can be paid out.

Filed Under: News, Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With: ,

Davenport student hits a string of lottery winners and a million dollar prize

January 13, 2012 By

Ashley Smrcina with boyfriend Paul McAllister. (Iowa Lottery photo)

A 22-year-old graduate student in Davenport won’t have any problem paying off her student loans after winning a big Iowa Lottery prize.

Ashley Smrcina, who’s working on her master’s degree in social work at St. Ambrose University, won the top prize of $1 million in the “Lifetime Riches” game.

She bought the $20 ticket and scratched it off while doing research for a school paper at restaurant. “I couldn’t breathe and was crying at the same time,” Smrcina said after realizing how much she’d won.

“The waitress came over and asked, ‘are you okay?’ I said ‘I’m fine.’ But, she came over later and I was just staring at (the ticket) and crying. I said, ‘I think I just won a lot of money, but don’t tell anybody.’”

Smrcina, who moved to Iowa from Michigan in July, claimed her prize Thursday at Iowa Lottery headquarters in Des Moines. “It feels surreal,” Smrcina said. “I can’t believe it. We’ve been here for such a short time. It still gives me goosebumps.”

Smrcina said she took a break from her research at the restaurant and crossed the street to a convenience store. She initially won a $20 prize on a $5 scratch ticket. She then bought a $10 ticket and won $300. The clerk talked Smrcina into buying the $20 ticket which netted the $1 million prize.

Grand prize winners in the “Lifetime Riches” game can choose the annuity option to receive $40,000 per year for a period of 25 years. Smrcina chose to her winnings in a lump-sum payment of $650,000, which nets her $455,000 after taxes.

Smrcina said that she especially looks forward to the fact that her lottery winnings will make her student loans “just disappear.”

Filed Under: News, Recreation & Entertainment Tagged With: ,

Racing and Gaming commissioners confident in selection of new administrator

January 13, 2012 By

The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission Thursday accepted the resignation of commission administrator Jack Ketterer and then appointed Ketterer’s successor at the same meeting. The commission is believed to be the only one allowed by the Iowa code to appoint its own administrator.

The commissioners voted unanimously to appoint racing director Brian Ohorilko to succeed Ketterer who is retiring. He will have to be confirmed by the Iowa Senate. Commission chair, Toni Urban of Des Moines, says they consulted with the governor on the choice, and feel Ohorilko has the experience needed.

Urban says one of the factors in the decision is the possibility the legislature may decide to start internet gambling this year and Ohorilko is a nationally known expert on internet gambling who wrote the commission’s report on the issue for the governor. “So the transition is perfect, and I think that he’s gonna prove that he’s gonna do a wonderful job for the State of Iowa. And we’re excited about that,” Urban says.

Commissioner Greg Seyfer has been on the commission the longest, and said Ohorilko was the logical choice to fill the position.

“If we were to open the thing wide up and accept resumes, his would come to the top,” Seyfer says. “And we have the added benefit of at least myself working with him for six years, going through the licensing process a couple of years ago. And I think he’ll do a great job.”

Some may be critical of the decision not to open up the position, but Seyfer says they should see how Ohorilko performs. “He’s filling out the rest of Jack’s term, which I think is almost ideal in that it’s kind of a testing period and it’ll come up again in two years and at that stage if people want to open it up, that’s fine. If Brian proves himself like we all believe he will, then I think it’ll prove out that we’ve done the right thing,” Seyfer said.

During the commission meeting and discussion of the appointment, Seyfer said one of the things he also liked about Ohorilko is that he is a registered high school official. Ohorilko’s resume says he is registered to work football and basketball games and has been selected to officiate the football playoffs from 2008 to 2011, and the 2011 girls state basketball tournament.

Ohorilko has been with the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission since 2004. He will begin his job in the lowest pay range, between 120 and $130,000. Ketterer is paid $180,000, but he says that is not the top of the salary range.

Filed Under: News, Politics & Government Tagged With: ,
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