Speaker Gunn to appoint state lottery study committee

House leader wants lottery study group

Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn says he will appoint a committee to study the pros and cons of creating a state lottery.

The Republican from Clinton is a leader in his Baptist church and has long opposed the expansion of gambling in Mississippi, including a lottery. But on Thursday, Gunn told reporters that he wants to see numbers evaluating how a lottery could affect Mississippi’s economy.

“I’m open to looking at it. I do not think it’s going to be the golden egg that everybody thinks that it is,” Gunn said during a news conference a day after the 2017 legislative session ended.

Clarion Ledger
3/30/17