Betting on Changes for the Florida Lottery

Innocent Floridians, take heed: Your lottery department has been going rogue. Luckily, we've got state Rep. Clay Ford to reel it back in.

The Gulf Breeze Republican is pushing a measure that would tighten the department's ability to set its own rules. While other state departments have some rulemaking authority, the lottery's power is significantly broader, said Ford aide Ray Walker.

Ford's bill, which passed its final committee Thursday, would undo a 20-year-old effort by the state Legislature that granted the lottery its extra powers. Since then, the lottery has created hundreds of "emergency" rules that allowed it to make speedy changes and bypass longer rulemaking processes.

"Now we look back and say, 'Hey, we need to make some changes,'" Walker said.

Those changes are designed to cut costs and maximize efficiency, he added. Don't look for everything to change, though.

For example, Walker said the $3.7 million TV contract held by Mike Vasilinda Productions -- the company owned by the well-known Tallahassee newsman -- will be unaffected. Vasilinda, incidentally, is married to Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, a Democrat.

Officials with the lottery department have not returned a phone call requesting comment.