The death of a key administrator at the Montana Lottery is behind nearly $20m in misreported agency finances. That’s according to lottery employees following a state audit.
Montana legislative auditors told lawmakers in June they can’t vouch for the accuracy of the state lottery’s recent financial statements. The agency is in charge of running popular lottery games like Montana Millionaire and Powerball.
Accountant Chet McLean with Gov. Greg Gianforte’s office said he stepped in to help the agency sort through its records after its former financial services director fell ill and later died. McLean described what he believes happened.
“We had a man who was looking at the last months or years of his life, and he stopped doing his job,” McLean said. “And that’s essentially what happened. And so, an accounting mess ensued.”
The auditors found the late financial services director had critical institutional knowledge that went with him when he died. They did not find any evidence of fraud or purposeful wrongdoing.
McLean said he anticipates the fallout may linger in the lottery’s future financial reports as staff work to clean up the agency’s books.
