[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 176 (Wednesday, November 8, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S16831-S16832]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          KENO GAME USHERS IN NEW ERA OF GAMBLING IN NEW YORK

 Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I ask that the attached article be 
printed in the Record.
  The article follows:

                [From the New York Times, Sept. 7, 1995]

          Keno Game Ushers in New Era of Gambling in New York

                            (By Ian Fisher)

       Bill Fox played the numbers in his birthday, his wife's 
     birthday, the birthday of a grandson, and then for good 
     measure, plucked a few random digits from his head.
       ``Ahhh, it's a shot,'' he said after betting--and losing--
     $5 a short time after New York State's new Quick Draw keno 
     game went on line yesterday morning.
       The little colored balls that bopped around the video 
     screen at the Blarney Stone on Ninth Avenue, and at hundreds 
     of other businesses across the state, bounced New York into a 
     new era of gambling, the most significant expansion in the 
     state lottery's 28-year history. Starting at 10 A.M. 
     yesterday, the state began holding lottery drawings every 5 
     minutes for 13 hours a day in bars, restaurants, bowling 
     alleys, Offtrack Betting parlors--even a hardware store or 
     two--2,250 by the end of the month, lottery officials 
     project.
       Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, who pushed for the keno game to help 
     close several budget gaps, used to liken it to bingo. Pataki 
     administration officials say it is simply another lottery 
     game, no different from Pick 10. Critics, though, say that 
     the game's pace makes it more akin to casino-style gambling--
     and more prone to pocket-draining abuse.
       But Mr. Fox and other newly minted keno players were not 
     interested in moralizing. Although the game seemed to get off 
     to a slow start in the morning, as several bars in Manhattan 
     complained that the equipment did not work or was still not 
     installed, those who played early said they liked Quick Draw 
     precisely because of the promise of a quick reward.
       ``You don't have to wait,'' said Mr. Fox, a 46-year-old 
     plumber who played a few games at his lunch break. ``It's 
     right there in front of you: you are a winner or a loser.''
       A small taste of the critics' fears played out at Handyman 
     Hardware and Paint in the Oakwood Shopping Center on Staten 
     Island, where three tables and a dozen chairs became a 
     makeshift keno parlor.
       ``I came here a half an hour ago to buy milk and diapers,'' 
     said Katherine Petersen, 37, a marine-insurance broker. ``I'm 
     still here. It's addicting.''
       ``I play the daily number, but you have to wait until 7:30 
     to know,'' she said. ``This is quicker--five minutes--it's 
     like being in Atlantic City.''
       ``I won a dollar,'' she said. ``I bet $7. I have no more 
     money for the diapers and the milk. But I had fun.''
       New York is the eighth state to offer keno, a game that 
     Republicans and Democrats alike had opposed in Albany for 
     years.
       But it was approved this year with apparent reluctance in 
     the face of a nearly $5 billion deficit, as lawmakers 
     scrambled to find money to prevent increases in college 
     tuition or cuts in welfare and Medicaid. The game is expected 
     to bring in $180 million in its first full year of operation.
       ``There was a line we were drawing in the sand, and we had 
     to be more open, I should say, to new additional revenue 
     sources,'' said Patricia Lynch, a spokeswoman for Assembly 
     Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat who had been a 
     staunch opponent of keno. ``That's the bottom line.''
       Lawmakers, especially Democrats, were also courted 
     aggressively by half a dozen lobbyists hired by the Gtech 
     Corporation of West Greenwich, R.I., which runs the game on 
     behalf of the lottery. The company will be paid 1.525 percent 
     of the sales.
       Except for the pace and setting, Quick Draw is played like 
     any other keno-style lottery game. A player picks 1 to 10 
     numbers from a field of 80, filling out a card that is fed 
     into a lottery machine by the bartender or other employee. 
     The player bets $1, $2, $3, $4, $5, or $10 each game and may 
     play a maximum of 20 games or $100 on each card. But players 
     can effectively bet whatever they like by simply filling out 
     more than one card.
       Every five minutes, a central computer at the lottery's 
     headquarters spits out 20 random numbers, which zip through 
     phone lines and are displayed simultaneously on terminals 
     around the state. Players win according to how many numbers 
     they match and how much they bet: the highest prize for a $1 
     bet is $100,000, if the player bets on 10 numbers and matches 
     all of them. If the player matches five numbers on that bet, 
     he would be paid $2.
       Like any other lottery game, players can redeem prizes of 
     up to $600 on site. For larger prizes, they must file a 
     claims form and receive their winnings from the lottery 
     department.
       The businesses that install keno games receive 6 percent of 
     the total sales, with no extra commission for any winning 
     tickets they sell. That percentage is less than what many 
     establishments earn for food and drinks, but many bars and 
     restaurants 

[[Page S 16832]]
     agreed to the game in the hope of attracting customers both to gamble 
     and, they hope, to spend more on food and drink as well.
       But many bars have turned down Quick Draw, both because of 
     worries it may not pay off financially and because they feel 
     it essentially turns their establishments into betting 
     parlors.
       ``I think it demeans my restaurant and bar,'' said Don 
     Berger, owner of the Riverrun in TriBeCa. ``It smacks of 
     Atlantic City, honky-tonk and we don't do that, I am not 
     interested in that one bit.''
       In Massachusetts, which has run a keno game for a year and 
     a half, a debate has ignited over placing keno terminals in 
     convenience stores--which critics say brings gambling into 
     places where children can watch. In New York, the law was 
     written to exclude most convenience stores by requiring 
     outlets to have a minimum of 2,500 square feet. But the game 
     is being installed in some liquor stores, supermarkets, 
     pharmacies and other outlets that do meet the space 
     requirements.
       It is too early to know whether any strong opposition to 
     Quick Draw will emerge, but if the experience of other states 
     is any guide, the game will probably be popular among those 
     who play.
       ``People are going to gamble anyway, if not in New York, 
     then in New Jersey,'' said Geno Gulli, a retired barber, as 
     he placed a losing $2 bet in Keenan's bar on 231st Street and 
     Broadway. The profits to the state, he said, were ``good for 
     the state for a good cause.''
       As he spoke, Bert Patel, a candy store owner, basked in the 
     glow of a $10 win. ``I just got my beer money back,'' he 
     said.

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