ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Gov. Mark Dayton said Monday that Minnesota’s Gambling Control Board should have revealed from the start that it consulted the gambling industry when compiling its projections for how much the state would raise by expanding electronic gaming to help pay for the new Minnesota Vikings stadium.
The amount raised so far has fallen far short of the original projections. Dayton told The Associated Press that he wasn’t aware of the input from an industry that stood to profit from the new games, until the Star Tribune reported it on Sunday.
“I think it should have been disclosed,” Dayton said. “I think obviously in hindsight, given the serious overestimation that occurred, that those sources should have been disclosed very publicly in the very beginning and people could have exercised the caution that probably was due given those sources.”
Gambling Control Board director Tom Barrett said it was never his intent to hide that the companies were consulted. He acknowledged he showed several vendors the projections, but he said the companies didn’t drive the estimates.
“They didn’t create this,” Barrett said. “They were asked, do you see any problems with the methodology? And in defense of what was before the board and how we approached it, I still stand behind the methodology.”
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
