Friday, July 12, 2002 | 9:55 a.m.
BISMARCK, N.D. -- A state lawmaker says North Dakota voters should decide if they want the Powerball lottery.
Rep. Andy Maragos, R-Minot, is trying for the third time in three years to put the question on the ballot.
After failing to convince the Legislature to allow a vote, Maragos is proposing a constitutional measure that would allow the state to join the multistate lottery.
"I don't know how it's going to work out," he said Thursday, after submitting the proposal to the secretary of state's office. "This is merely an effort to give the people of North Dakota a chance to express themselves, since the Legislature did not have the courage to put it on the ballot."
The secretary of state's office has until next Friday to approve the proposal for circulation. If it is approved, supporters must get 25,688 signatures to put the measure to a vote in November.
Former Gov. Art Link, chairman of the North Dakota Council on Gambling Problems, said lottery advocates are "promoting pie in the sky."
"I think they ought to respect the decisions of the people who voted on it a half dozen times or so," Link said. "The idea that the lottery can create prosperity is a pipe dream."
Bismarck's Patrick Crotty, a spokesman for the sponsoring committee, said it would keep money from crossing state lines. Minnesota, South Dakota and Montana have lotteries, as do the border Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
"It robs the local merchants of the chance to have that business," Crotty said.
The Minnesota State Lottery has estimated that North Dakota residents spend $5 million annually on the game, and outlets in East Grand Forks, Minn., and Moorhead, Minn., typically rank among the top sellers.
Crotty said the timing of submitting the initiative is "somewhat coincidental" with Gov. John Hoeven's announcement earlier this week that the state is facing a projected $18 million shortfall at the end of June next year.
"Representative Maragos and the members of our sponsoring committee are worried about the social and economic future of our state," Crotty said. "Right now, we're facing a very tough year financially, possibly the toughest in two decades. The state is definitely going to need new revenue."
Link said the lottery has not bailed out other states.
"Look around," Link said. "Minnesota is in debt, South Dakota is in debt, Montana is in debt. If the lottery was so good, those states wouldn't have those problems."
Maragos introduced a similar proposal in the last session. It was defeated 67-31. He also proposed the idea in the 1999 session, and it was rejected.
"I would never go back to the Legislature again, because they did not have the political will," Maragos said.
North Dakota voters twice rejected lottery measures in the 1980s. In 1996 an initiative to legalize a lottery and allow video gambling machines in bars, restaurants and bingo halls was soundly beaten. Sixty-nine percent of the voters said no.
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