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Pa. Lottery contract is sent for final review, Corbett says

He said the state's growing senior population made the deal necessary.

HERSHEY, Pa. - Gov. Corbett said Thursday that his administration had signed off on hiring a British firm to manage the state lottery, sending the contract for a final legal review.

Under the plan offered by Camelot Global Services PA L.L.C., Pennsylvania can expect an additional $50 million for senior programs in next year's state budget, Corbett said. That will allow for more funding of in-home services, the Area Agencies on Aging, and improvements to senior centers.

"The lottery needs to expand. It needs to grow. It needs to appeal to more people. And it needs to use the efficiencies and the enterprise unique to the private sector," Corbett said at a news conference at the Mohler senior center in Hershey.

The governor again responded to criticisms of the deal, pointing to the state's growing elderly population as the impetus for seeking a larger and more reliable stream of funding in coming years.

"Too often government does not plan for tomorrow," Corbett said. "This is about dealing generation to generation."

Camelot, which operates the British lottery, has pledged to bring in more than $34 billion in profits over a 20-year management contract, in part through introducing online ticket sales and keno.

Pennsylvania is the third state, behind Illinois and Indiana, to privatize its lottery management.

Dan Meuser, secretary of the Department of Revenue, signed the management contract Wednesday evening. It awaits approval from the state attorney general, due within 30 days.

Corbett said Pennsylvania's 2.7 million senior citizens make up the fourth-largest senior population among the states. By 2030, one-quarter of the state's population will be over 60, he said.

"That's nearly one million more seniors who will be eligible for the services that the lottery funds provide," he said.

M. Crystal Lowe, director of the Pennsylvania Association of Area Agencies on Aging, said she welcomed the prospect of relief from financial pressures that have forced 10 percent of the state's senior centers to close in recent years.

"We've been trying to do more and more with less and less but, you know, the need has far outstripped the resources that we have," she said.