Few problems found in lottery

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Some change should follow, though.

Regardless of how someone feels about South Carolina being in the lottery business, most everyone should be able to find some comfort in the state audit released this week by the Legislative Audit Council. The audit found very few problems with the state lottery.

South Carolina got into the lottery business in January 2002 after voters approved a constitutional amendment and legislators passed the regulations needed to set the lottery in play. The lottery generated about $1.2 billion in gross sales between January 2002 and Aug. 31, 2003. About 29 percent of that money has gone to education, with the rest going for prizes, contracts, administration and retailer commissions.

Even more money could go toward education if several recommendations for cutting costs are followed. In particular, the audit said the Lottery Commission "could reduce the number of cellular phones provided to employees who have primarily administrative desk jobs in the main office. Also, the lottery could obtain additional savings from re-evaluating its use of vehicles."

Worth noting, however, is that the lottery's administrative costs have been less than the 15 percent allowed by law. Still, even relatively small savings will help gain more money for education.

Another finding of the audit reinforces Gov. Mark Sanford's claim that the lottery is paying too much in retailer commissions. The audit did not find any problems in retailer recruitment and retention. However, retailers in South Carolina get a 7 percent commission — the seventh highest of the 39 states with a lottery.

Sanford has said retailer commissions should be lowered to 5 percent. That figure would put South Carolina at the bottom. But the nationwide average for retailer commissions was 6.07 percent (fiscal year 2001-02), according to the audit. Lowering those commissions to 6 percent would make sense and save millions of dollars for education programs in our state.