Ohio Lottery cuts support on national spelling bee
Spellers walk onstage at the start of the second round of the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee competition May 30, 2012 in National Harbor, Maryland.
Photographer: (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Copyright Getty Images
Posted: 08/10/2012
ELYRIA, Ohio - The Ohio Lottery says it's no longer paying $115 registration fees for schools taking part in the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee, favoring instead a program that helps gambling addicts.
The (Elyria) Chronicle-Telegram ( http://bit.ly/N0kEbB ) reports officials cited budget cuts for discontinuing about $178,000 in fees for participating Ohio schools. The agency has paid them since 2008.
Lottery spokeswoman Danielle Frizzi-Babb says the agency's budget for sponsorship programs was cut from $1.7 million in the last fiscal year to $1.5 million. She also says the state has cut the lottery budget to a level similar to 2008.
Frizzi-Babb says more funding was needed for a gambling support group as additional casinos open in Ohio.
The newspaper reports the agency's overall revenue in the last fiscal year totaled about $2.7 billion.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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