Choice of Firm for Lottery Line Signals Dispute
A company says it should run a state lottery hot line despite a lawmaker’s claim that its selection was inappropriate because it offers romantic fantasy recordings tainted by “cheap sexual innuendo.”
Assemblyman Steve Peace (D-Chula Vista) said in an interview that Megaphone International Inc. of San Francisco also “exploited children in a monetary sense” last Christmas with its Dial Santa Claus service.
Peace said the company’s record poses a potential conflict with the voter-approved lottery initiative aimed at barring contractors who might damage the image of the games.
‘Unfair Accusations’
Megaphone President John Bremner said in an interview that Peace’s comments were “unfair and incorrect accusations.” He compared Dial-A-Romance stories with soap operas and said there were few complaints about the Santa Claus service.
Lottery staff members selected Megaphone from among eight bidders for a one-year contract to operate a 976-prefix telephone number that would provide winning drawing numbers in three languages beginning this fall, said lottery spokesman John Schade.
The recommendation to hire Megaphone is expected to come before the Lottery Commission for final approval next week.
‘Sexual Innuendo’
Peace said that after listening to two Dial-A-Romance recordings he believes they are “not in the same category with pornography” but are “certainly in the category of adult fare” because they provide “cheap sexual innuendo.”
The assemblyman said the firm’s advertising of its Dial Santa Claus service last Christmas coaxed children into repeatedly phoning, sometimes without the knowledge of their parents.
Some parents were surprised by large phone bills, Peace said.
The major telephone companies bill customers for calls to 976-prefix numbers, then provide a portion of the money to telephone information firms like Megaphone.
Sees No Conflict
Bremner said there is nothing in the record of his company, a three-year-old, publicly held corporation, that would clash with integrity-assurance provisions in the lottery initiative.
“The romantic fantasies help housewives to release and get a little enjoyment during the day. They are not unlike romance novels or daytime soap operas. Our company scrupulously avoids pornography,” he said.
In the wake of the Dial Santa Claus controversy, the firm participated in deliberations on means of protecting children from exploitation, Bremner said.
