Wisconsin tried its luck at a lottery, 36 years ago

In early 1982, an Assembly committee in Madison proposed a lottery for Wisconsin.  Fifteen states already had them, and one estimate predicted $30 million a year in revenue for the Badger State.  The Wisconsin Lottery wouldn’t actually start for another six years. Meanwhile, police on French Island carried out a gambling raid at the home of Richard Scott.  Mr. Scott kept slot machines and casino tables at the house, and claimed he only used them to teach other people how to gamble.  

The first black basketball coach in the Big 10 resigned in ’82.  Badgers coach Bill Cofield had been at the UW for six seasons.  In Cofield’s last year, Wisconsin had to forfeit the only three games it won against other Big 10 teams.  

Chuck Berry performed at the La Crosse Center that December, for about 800 people.  And almost 300 of the tickets were given away for free.  A former director of minority affairs at UW-La Crosse had arranged for the concert as a scholarship fundraiser, but the Berry show lost $20,000.  The top ticket price was $11.  The university said it would make up for the losses through profits from vending machines on campus…in 1982, yesterday in La Crosse.