Lottery Commission Yields to Wilson, Delays Lotto Change

The state Lottery Commission, pressured by Gov. Pete Wilson for more time to select a new lottery director, reluctantly agreed Tuesday to delay a proposed overhaul of Lotto intended to boost sales for the financially troubled lottery.

Clearly displeased with the governor’s intervention, lottery officials said delays in their plans to improve the odds in the Lotto game could thwart their efforts to reverse an accelerating decline in sales. They had expected to make the changes effective Oct. 12.

“Any delay at this point forestalls any benefits that may be derived from that action,” said commission Chairman Dennis Malody.

The change would return the Lotto game to its original form in which players selected six numbers from a field of 49, giving them a 14-million-to-1 chance of winning the top prize. Officials, hoping to create more big rollover jackpots, altered the game more than a year ago so that players chose numbers from a field of 53, reducing the chance of winning to one in 23 million.

In a letter delivered to Malody on Friday, Wilson said he was in the process of selecting a new executive director of the lottery and he wanted his appointee to have “as much flexibility as possible to design new games and reduce expenditures.” He urged the commission to postpone major policy decisions so the new director can make recommendations.

“The new executive director will have a mandate to undertake a variety of initiatives that will make the California Lottery the nation’s leader once again,” Wilson wrote.

With lottery sales continuing to decline, the governor’s office has been searching for months for a director to replace Chon Gutierrez, a holdover from the Administration of former Gov. George Deukmejian. Wilson is said to have had difficulty finding someone with experience in running a big lottery who would be willing to accept the $95,000 salary that California pays its director.

On Tuesday, a philosophical Gutierrez acknowledged that his chances of retaining his post were about as distant as buying a jackpot-winning Lotto ticket. But he insisted that the lottery sales slump was not his fault.

“I am the same individual that created the $2.6-billion sales record that is as yet unsurpassed in the industry,” he said of sales in the 1988-89 fiscal year.