Idaho ended its Powerball lottery on Wednesday after a proposal to allow other countries to participate.
The Idaho House State Affairs Committee overturned legislation that would have changed current Idaho law, which only allows lotteries in your state to be played by Americans and Canadians reported.
Powerball is expanding and allowing players in Britain and Australia to play, which would make the sale of Powerball lottery tickets illegal under Idaho law. The legislation was intended to overturn the law so that the state could continue to sell Powerball lottery tickets.
The legislation was rejected by 10 to 4, with Republicans and Democrats fearing the participation of other countries.
Idaho Lottery officials argue that this could damage the state’s revenue and affect the amount of money the Idaho school system would receive, which would be withdrawn from the lottery.
Powerball tickets give the state $ 28 million in sales and $ 14 million of the money raised from those sales goes to schools.
“My concern is the delegation of authority and, essentially, handing over our sovereignty to this Multi-state Lottery Association,” said Democratic deputy Chris Mathias. “I think we should be concerned if they can be persuaded, they can be heavily pressured by countries that we are not particularly friendly with.”
Jeff Anderson, director of the Idaho Lottery, tried to tell lawmakers before the vote that countries like China will never join the Powerball lottery, according to the Associated Press.
“What we have is 32 years of Idahoans being able to voluntarily participate in a lottery game of their choice,” said Anderson after the legislation was overturned. “For thirty-two years everything is fine, now it’s not. It is very worrying. “
The last Powerball draw will take place in August.