Senator Lawler Anticipates Bi-Partisan Support for Lottery Ticket Sales Legislation

Senator Daisy Lawler, a Democrat from Comanche, said today she looks forward to working with lawmakers from both parties to statutorily ban the sale of lottery tickets at pawn shops and payday loan centers in the upcoming legislative session.

“When the Oklahoma Lottery Commission reversed its decision to allow sales of lottery tickets at these businesses when the lottery began in October, I was concerned that legislation would still be needed to ensure that future commissions would never be faced with this sort of situation again,” Lawler said. “At that point, I began working with Rep. Hilliard (D-Sulphur) to craft a significant piece of legislation to put an end to this issue once and for all.”

Lawler said she filed Senate Bill 1332 on January 10th and expects the bill to have bi-partisan support as it goes through the legislative process. Republican Senator Kathleen Wilcoxson announced today that she has filed similar legislation to be considered when the second session of the 50th Oklahoma Legislature begins in February.

“The unanimous decision by the members of the Lottery Commission last October to ban the sale of lottery tickets at pawn shops and payday loan centers shows they understand the people of Oklahoma never intended for people to borrow money to buy lottery tickets when they overwhelmingly approved the lottery at the ballot box,” Lawler said. “But I still believe it’s important for the Oklahoma Legislature to do our part and pass a law that permanently bans ticket sales at these places so that we will never have to revisit this issue again. I am encouraged to see that others in the Legislature believe this is an important issue and am hopeful SB 1332 will pass through the legislative process quickly with support from both sides of the aisle.”