Attorney General Dustin McDaniel chimes in on a problem we’ve mentioned repeatedly about the proposed state lottery. Once lottery games are allowed, the door is open for the legislature to approve just about any kind of game of chance, state casinos even. Doesn’t mean they will. But the advent of games far different from standard lotteries is a fact elsewhere in the U.S.

The attorney general said the proposal “does not prohibit” other lottery games.

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“From a voter standpoint, I’ve served in the Legislature and I know there will be, if passed and if available, there will be an awful lot of powerful interests trying to push the law to the full limit,” McDaniel said.

“I know there will be (legislators) that want to do that and members that won’t want to do that, and whether they do it in the first round or not, they may do it years down the road,” he said.

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The attorney general said he has traveled to other states that have the lottery and on occasion plays those games.

“But I also have seen in some states where there is a sign out in front of a gas station that says ‘casino inside,’ and when you walk in it really is a handful of video slot machines plugged into the state interactive lottery computer,” he said. “You see folks sitting there plugging money into a slot machine … I would have a problem with that.”

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