Montana Lottery Faces New Questions After $18.5 Million Reporting Error

Montana Lottery Audit Raises Questions

When I first saw the Montana Free Press headline saying the Montana Lottery had "misreported" $18.5 million, I nearly spit out my coffee.

Thankfully, after digging into the story a bit more, it's not like $18.5 million just vanished into thin air. At the same time, this wasn't some tiny bookkeeping mistake either.

State Auditors Found Multiple Accounting And Reporting Errors

According to state auditors, the Montana Lottery made a series of accounting and reporting errors over several years that caused some financial records to be overstated and others to be understated.

The easiest way to think about it is this: the money wasn't missing, but the scoreboard wasn't always showing the right score.

What really caught auditors' attention was that the lottery's financial tracking systems and internal controls had become outdated. In some cases, the agency was relying heavily on the knowledge of longtime employees rather than modernized systems and procedures.

ball with number lot

What Happens Next?

Auditors also found issues with how lottery profits were being transferred. By law, those funds are supposed to be distributed multiple times each year to support things like scholarships for Montana students along with Montana's general fund, and they say those transfers weren't always handled the way they should have been.

The good news is the Montana Lottery agrees changes need to be made. Legislative Audit Committee Chair Jerry Schillinger, R-Circle, told Montana Free Press to expect "some robust discussion" when the committee meets next week.

Whether you buy lottery tickets or not, I think most of us can agree on one thing: if the state is keeping score, the numbers ought to be right.

Source: Montana Free Press