From: Justin Escher Alpert

To: "Andrew.Sidamon-Eristoff@treas.state.nj.us" <Andrew.Sidamon-Eristoff@treas.state.nj.us>

Cc: "ruthechang@gmail.com" <ruthechang@gmail.com>; "sensweeney@njleg.org"
<sensweeney@njleg.org>; sen Weinberg <senWeinberg@njleg.org>; "SenBateman@njleg.org"
<SenBateman@njleg.org>; "SenBeck@njleg.org" <SenBeck@njleg.org>; "aswoliver@njleg.org"
<aswoliver@njleg.org>; "asmbramnick@njleg.org" <asmbramnick@njleg.org>; "editor@politickernj.com"
<editor@politickernj.com>; "kevin.o'dowd@gov.state.nj.us" <kevin.o'dowd@gov.state.nj.us>;
"aswangelini@njleg.org" <aswangelini@njleg.org>
BCC: Jasey Asw. D. O., asm McKeon, Bob Ingle, tmoran@starledger.com, chris.cerf@doe.state.nj.us,
senAddiego@njleg.org kevin.roberts@gov.state.nj.us
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2013 11:17 AM
Subject: Privatization of the Marketing of the New Jersey Lottery

Dear Treasurer Sidamon-Eristoff:

Let me get this right... we need to "re-energize the lottery brand"
(http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/04/nj_treasurer_says_christies_lo.html)? So, I
suppose that the problem is that people, after forty years of playing the Lottery with the
statistical odds stacked up against them, they are slacking off and not playing enough
Lottery? And this Northstar conglomerate, they are going to be able to aggressively court new
players? I don't suppose that we will have commercials with a Sam Waterson-type talking about
how, "The Lottery is an important part of the high-risk portion of a well-diversified portfolio,"
will we? I mean, the Lottery has been sort of a regressive tax, hasn't it been? How will we judge
Northstar's efforts? If we begin to see lotto card vending machines in every supermarket and
Toys 'R Us, will that be a win for us? Attached is a picture of the lotto machine vending $20
cards at the 7-Eleven at Newark Airport. Will it be a win for the State if we get $40 cards in
there? Should there be some sort of cap... I don't know, you know... maybe no lottery card
should cost more that X number of times the hourly minimum wage?
Who put together the revenue models for your privatization plan? Are they the same economists
who decided that an $8.50 minimum wage would drag the State's economy down? Does your
economic model dynamically score the projected increase in Lottery revenues coming from the
less-educated segments of our population... you know... like, "If Marcus can get a steady thirty
hours per week of work at $7.25 per hour, and spends $40 per week making impulse purchases
from a Lottery vending machine, what kind of drain will that be on the local economy when that
activity is replicated throughout Marcus's community?"
We know that gambling triggers the same pleasure sensors in the brain as does cocaine and sex
and music and food and whatever it is that you might have a passion for (or be addicted to). The
companies that make slot machines have hired psychologists to determine how to best exploit
people's weaknesses. If Northstar intends to similarly make use of modern scientific method, is
there a clause in their contract that will require those high level Ph.D.s to be employed in New
Jersey? How do we determine if it is in fact the State itself that has become addicted to Lottery
revenue?
Treasurer Sidamon-Eristoff, does your position as State Treasurer limit your ability to account
for the ethical considerations of privatizing the marketing of the State Lottery, even if you know
that it is going to exploit people who are less-education that us? Would it be wrong for public

officials to let religious principles guide their decisions? Let us for a minute model what would
have happened if the State-employees who had been in charge of marketing the Lottery were
more successful in their efforts... Would the State have learned how to motivate people? Could
the State have taken some of that intelligence and applied it to other areas... say... maybe
marketing State-provided social welfare and mental health services? By outsourcing this
marketing effort just because it has failed, are we outsourcing the State's ability to grow and
learn from its successes and mistakes in this area?
Treasurer Sidamon-Eristoff, thank you for giving us some insight on your economic models. If
we can build some broad bipartisan support for your privatization plan, I am sure that the New
Jersey Lottery will be a shining example for others to follow as The Garden State gambles its
way to prosperity. Thank you, Treasurer Sidamon-Eristoff, for your economic and moral
leadership.
Warm regards,
Justin Escher Alpert
Livingston, New Jersey