Missouri Lottery Audit Released

Missouri’s State Auditor released an audit of the Missouri State Lottery Commission on Tuesday.Overall, the audit from Tom Schweich’s office showed the performance of the group was “Good.” However it did find “deficiencies in internal controls, noncompliance with legal provisions, and the need for improvement in management practices and procedures.”Among the finding, it showed the commission did not report $4.9 million in “additional advertising expenditures” to the Missouri General Assembly in 2010 and 2011. According to the audit, the money was spent on promotional items, event sponsorships and advertising agency expenses. Neither the lottery commission nor the General Assembly have documents showing the approved amount from the General Assembly for advertising purposes.”There’s a lot of cost that look to us like advertising costs that we believe should be reported to the legislature so that the legislature can make an accurate assessment of whether we’re getting a good cost benefit for our advertising dollars,” said Schweich.Lottery officials told ABC 17 News they do report all advertising costs and will continue to do so.”Part of it might fit under print, part might be under production, part might be under sponsorships, but every penny that is appropriated by the legislature is reported under one of those object codes,” said Gary Gonder of the Missouri State Lottery Commission.The audit also showed the commission spent over $400,000 to sponsor community events, but most of the events did not yield a positive return on investment. None of the five most costly events yielded positive returns to the commission.Also, the audit found that the lottery renegotiated some service contracts and renewed long-term contracts without engaging in regular competitive bidding. According to the State Auditor’s office, competitive bidding does not require contracts to be awarded to the lowest bidder. However, it may result in legal issues regarding compliance with state purchasing laws