Budget cuts, but millions for Missouri Lottery advertising.

While House members in both parties wanted to reduce the Missouri Lottery’s advertising budget, the Senate prevailed during budget conference committee negotiations.

The original House budget cut the Lottery’s advertising budget to one-hundred thousand dollars, but the Senate allocated three-million dollars. St. Louis Democratic State Representative Peter Merideth favored the House position. Merideth says, “ I think that Missourians would agree that right now, at a place when we are cutting the budget left and right… we probably should NOT spending money to advertise the lottery.”

Merideth and Noel GOP State Representative Dirk Deaton were unsuccessful in their effort to cut the advertising budget to one-hundred thousand dollars. Budget negotiators settled on two-million dollars.

The budget is now on the governor’s desk.