how does casino money benefit pennsylvania

“We’re forced to rely on using some of those resources,” Albright said.Īccording to state budget records, in the last fiscal year the Wolf administration used $309 million from the lottery fund to pay for Medicaid’s longterm medical assistance programs. The NBC10 Investigators analysis of state Medicaid recipients found one third are seniors.

Wolf’s administration, including Budget Secretary Randy Albright, said some lottery fund money is used to pay the state’s Medicaid bill. Commissioner Adam Thiel to be city's next managing director “Let’s have a true picture of what the lottery is paying for.”įire Dept. “Those waiting lists could be eliminated,” Ray Landis of AARP Pennsylvania said. Waiting lists for those programs are 4,000 seniors deep, according to senior advocates in Harrisburg. “The point of the lottery program is to have people age at home and maintain their independence,” Renee Cunningham of Philadelphia’s Center in the Park Senior Center said.īy law, other than prize payouts and operation expenses, the lottery fund is only supposed to be used for programs benefiting older Pennsylvanians - including prescription drug assistance, in-home care, transportation, and home maintenance. The rest pays prizes and lottery administration costs. The Pennsylvania Lottery advertises it “benefits older Pennsylvanians, every day.”īut in the last decade, billions of lottery dollars have been diverted, an NBC10 investigation found.Īccording to the state lottery, 27 cents of every dollar spent on lottery tickets goes into the state lottery fund.

How does casino money benefit pennsylvania