CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – Claiming the Wyoming Lottery Corporation is attacking free speech, a Cheyenne man is asking a district judge to dismiss a lawsuit the corporation has filed against him saying he has tried to sabotage its relationship with national lottery organizations.
The Wyoming Lottery Corporation in February filed a lawsuit in state district court in Cheyenne against Edward Atchison.
The corporation is seeking an injunction to force Atchison, director of a small group called the Wyoming Council on Problem Gambling, to stop making what the corporation calls false allegations to national lottery organizations about its operations.
Cheyenne lawyer Tim Kingston, who represents Atchison, filed a response this week saying the lawsuit should be dismissed because the corporation’s hasn’t specified what Atchison allegedly said that’s defamatory.
Kingston, who notes Wyoming Lottery was created by the state, says the corporation is clearly trying to intimidate its critics and that its lawsuit against Atchison amounts to an attack on his First Amendment right to free speech.
“The danger to the defendant and to free speech represented by this case is particularly acute in that the plaintiff is an arm of the state of Wyoming,” Kingston wrote.
Kingston says that the action filed by the lottery against Atchison is a “SLAPP suit,” meaning a “strategic lawsuit against public participation,” or a legal action designed to scare people so they won’t criticize or oppose an entity.
Atchison, 66, has written letters to national groups and newspapers around the state saying that the Wyoming Lottery needs to do more to address problem gambling.
Cheyenne lawyer Matthew D. Kaufman, who represents the lottery corporation in the lawsuit, said in an interview earlier this week that the lottery’s action against Atchison is not a “SLAPP suit.”
Kaufman said Monday that in order to sell tickets to the multistate Powerball and Mega Millions lotteries, the Wyoming Lottery must be in good standing with organizations such as the Multi-State Lottery Association and the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries.
Atchison had contacted the national lottery groups and alleged that the Wyoming lottery was not operating according to its statutory mandates, Kaufman said. The Wyoming Legislature authorized the lottery in 2013, and tickets went on sale last fall.
Atchison’s actions in contacting the national groups threaten the existence of the lottery, and the lottery felt it had to file the lawsuit to protect itself, Kaufman said.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.
