23-Feb-07. Want fair lotteries? Let bookies run them. Globe and Mail, B2.

This article notes that North American lotteries are moving toward continental consolidation and that U.S. states Illinois and Indiana are preparing to sell their state lotteries to the highest bidders. The author questions these types of transactions because private monopolies are illegal and it is questionable whether governments can transfer monopoly authorty to private corporations. University of Chicago professor Randal Picker, an authority on antitrust laws, regards this strategy as offensive and also views the low payout rates of public lotteries as a form of hidden taxation.