A Senate Study Committee is recommending legislation be introduced to establish a scratch off ticket game to benefit veterans.
Chairman Sen. Ed Harbison (D–Columbus) and members of the Senate Study Committee on Creating a Lottery Game to Benefit Veterans met in Columbus recently and came back with the unanimous recommendation. The recommendation is as follows:
* Legislation should be introduced that establishes one or more instant scratch off ticket games whose funds will be dedicated to help veterans services throughout the state. The game will be established and overseen by the Georgia Lottery Corporation.
The Senate Study Committee was created by the passage of Senate Resolution 484 during the 2018 Legislative Session for the distinct purpose of looking into the possibility of creating one or more games within the Georgia Lottery for the benefit of Georgia’s military veterans. Sen. Harbison was appointed to serve as the chairman. Also on the committee were: Sen. Mike Dugan (R-Carrollton), Sen. Tonya Anderson (D-Lithonia), Sen. David Lucas (D-Macon) and Sen. Larry Walker (R-Perry). The committee had a mandate to report its findings on or before December 31, 2018.
The recommendation came following the final committee meeting. While there was no set agenda for the meeting, lawmakers agreed to hear from anyone who wanted to speak on the issue.
“The idea of a lottery that will benefit veterans’ issues is not a new idea, but one that has been discussed for several years,” said Sen. Harbison, at the time of his appointment as committee chair.
“The Georgia Lottery has long been used as a means for students to attend Pre-Kindergarten and college, but we see the lottery as something that could also be used to benefit the men and women who have sacrificed their time, talents and energy to protecting and serving our nation. We realized that we need to do as much research as possible to determine the best course of legislative action in order to find a solution that will not affect the current system, but add to the lottery’s capabilities.”
