There are always going to be some things that private enterprise just does better than public, though public involvement remains an important component, and the secret to sound government is to continue to discover those areas and act on them.
Move toward privatization of lottery has investors licking chops
By Dale Kasler - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Friday, May 18, 2007
If California tries to lease its state lottery to private investors or unload a state-owned student-loan business, as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes, there will likely be no shortage of interested parties.
Providing capital to a growing privatization movement, investors are offering billions for state lotteries, toll roads and other government-owned assets nationwide.
Indiana sold the operating rights to its main toll highway last year to an international consortium for $3.8 billion. Chicago has leased out its Chicago Skyway toll road for $1.8 billion and is thinking of auctioning off Midway Airport. Texas just passed a law authorizing privately financed construction of several highways.
Meanwhile, several states besides California -- Colorado, Maryland, Michigan and Illinois, among them -- have mulled the privatization of their lotteries.
The idea is to remedy budget problems without raising taxes. "States often face budget crunches in any given year, and it's tempting to look at fixed assets that aren't generating as much revenue as they could," said Tracy Gordon, a research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California.
