Senate Bill No. 394

(By Senators Helmick, Whitlow, Ross, Chernenko,

Wagner, Withers, Yoder, Bailey, Humphreys, Dalton, Chafin,

Grubb, Boley, Macnaughtan, Claypole, Walker, Plymale and Felton

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[Introduced March 18, 1993; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact section nine, article twenty-two, chapter twenty-nine of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to legal gaming; lotteries; and prohibiting the lottery commission from initiating new or additional lottery games or programs after the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three, unless approved by the Legislature.

 Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section nine, article twenty-two, chapter twenty-nine of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty- one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 22. STATE LOTTERY ACT.

§29-22-9. Initiation and operation of lottery; restrictions; prohibited themes, games, machines or devices; distinguishing numbers; winner selection; public drawings;
witnessing of results; testing and inspection of equipment; price of tickets; claim for and payment of prizes; invalid, counterfeit tickets; estimated prizes and odds of winning; participant bound by lottery rules and validation procedures; security procedures; additional games prohibited unless approved by the Legislature; electronic and computer systems.
(a) The commission shall initiate operation of the state lottery on a continuous basis at the earliest feasible and practical time, first initiating operation of the preprinted instant winner type lottery. The lottery shall be initiated and shall continue to be operated so as to produce the maximum amount of net revenues to benefit the public purpose described in this article consonant with the public good. Other state government departments, boards, commissions, agencies and their officers shall cooperate with the lottery commission so as to aid the lottery commission in fulfilling these objectives.
(b) The commission shall not promulgate emergency rules and regulations, but the commission may promulgate legislative rules specifying the types of lottery games to be conducted by the lottery: Provided, That:
(1) No lottery may use the results of any amateur or professional sporting event, dog race or horse race to determine the winner.
(2) Electronic video lottery systems must include a central site system of monitoring the lottery terminals utilizing an on-line or dial-up inquiry.
(3) In a lottery utilizing a ticket, each ticket shall bear a unique number distinguishing it from each other ticket.
(4) No lottery utilizing a machine may use machines which dispense coins or currency.
(5) Selection of the winner must be predicted totally on chance.
(6) Any drawings or winner selections shall be held in public and witnessed by an independent accountant designated by the director for such purposes.
(7) All lottery equipment and materials shall be regularly inspected and tested, before and after any drawings or winner selections, by independent qualified technicians.
(8) The director shall establish the price for each lottery and determine the method of selecting winners and the manner of payment of prizes, including providing for payment by the purchase of annuities for prizes payable in installments.
(9) All claims for prizes shall be examined and no prize shall be paid as a result of altered, stolen or counterfeit tickets or materials, or which fail to meet validation rules or regulations established for a lottery. No prize shall be paid more than once, and, in the event of a binding determination by the commission that more than one person is entitled to a particular prize, the sole remedy of the claimants shall be the award to each of them of an equal share in the single prize.
(10) A detailed tabulation of the estimated number of prizesof each particular prize denomination that are expected to be awarded in each lottery, or the estimated odds of winning such prizes shall be printed on any lottery ticket, where feasible, or in descriptive materials, and shall be available at the offices of the commission.
(11) No prizes shall be paid which are invalid and not contemplated by the prize structure of the lottery involved.
(12) By purchasing a ticket or participation in a lottery, a participant agrees to abide by, and be bound by, the lottery rules which apply to the lottery or game play involved. An abbreviated form of such rules may appear on tickets and shall appear on descriptive materials and shall be available at the offices of the commission. A participant in a lottery agrees that the determination of whether the participant is a valid winner is subject to the lottery or game play rules and the winner validation tests established by the commission. The determination of the winner by the commission shall be final and binding upon all participants in a lottery and shall not be subject to review or appeal.
(13) The commission shall institute such security procedures as it deems necessary to ensure the honesty and integrity of the winner selection process for each lottery. All such security and validation procedures and techniques shall be, and remain, confidential, and shall not be subject to any discovery procedure in any civil judicial, administrative or other proceeding, nor subject to the provisions of article one, chapter twenty-nine-bof the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty- one, as amended.
(c) Effective the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three, the commission shall may not proceed with operation of such any additional lottery games or programs, including the implementation of games utilizing a variety of existing or future technological advances at the earliest feasible date unless the lottery commission has submitted a request to the Legislature to implement the new games or programs and the Legislature has enacted legislation to specifically authorize the new games or programs requested by the lottery commission. The commission may operate lottery games utilizing electronic computers and electronic computer terminal devices and systems, which systems must include a central site system of monitoring the lottery terminals utilizing direct communication systems, or other technological advances and procedures, ensuring honesty and integrity in the operation of the lottery.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit the lottery commission from implementing new lottery games or programs by emergency rules and regulations or without the approval of the Legislature.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.