Auditor plans review of $3.4 million paid out in Pa. Lottery dealings

Pennsylvania’s top fiscal watchdog says his office intends to scrutinize state payments made to consultants working on a plan to lease the lottery to a private firm.

There is no timetable for the review of more than $3.4 million paid to private consultants out of the state’s lottery fund, said state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale. And he said he can’t hope to do much more than make recommendations based on the review’s findings.

“The biggest thing is we have the big stick of the soapbox and the bullhorn of the public discourse,” he said Tuesday. “But if something is that wrong, we would then have the ability to forward it to the attorney general, if we think it’s something potentially criminal.”

Word of the review comes on the heels of state Treasurer Rob McCord’s criticism of the Corbett administration for continuing to pursue lottery privatization.

McCord, a Democrat, is also running for governor.

Earlier this year, State Attorney General Kathleen Kane, also a Democrat, threw out a contract to privatize the state Lottery.

But the Corbett administration has kept the bid by British firm Camelot Global Services alive.

The bid is set to expire Tuesday unless it’s extended again.