John Oliver on Oregon Lottery

John Oliver criticizes the Oregon Lottery's reliance on problem games using addictive video poker machines on HBO's Last Week Tonight.

(HBO)

Comedian John Oliver tore into the Oregon Lottery's fun-loving image on his HBO show Last Week Tonight, lambasting the state agency's reliance on problem gamers using addictive video poker machines.

Though the agency's motto is "It does good things," Oliver said on the Nov. 9 show: "It may not be a coincidence that the logo for the Oregon state lottery is someone crossing their fingers, the universal sign for lying."

How did the Oregon Lottery react to the critique? Publicly, its director, Jack Roberts, dismissed it in a statement aired by KOIN-TV.

"Unfortunately Oliver's not accurate in several regards including how we came to have a lottery," Roberts told KOIN. "He's not really talking about the issues that we face."

Oliver's criticism drew directly from a 2013 investigation by The Oregonian's Harry Esteve that found the Oregon Lottery siphons money away from problem gamblers to pay for schools, parks, business development and other programs.

So what did Roberts and other lottery officials say in private? The Oregonian obtained internal emails under the state's public records law.

Here's what Roberts told communications staffers and a spokesman for Gov. John Kitzhaber the morning after the spot ran:

The piece has been watched more than 2.5 million times on YouTube.

Roberts was responding to Joanie Stevens-Schwenger, a lottery spokeswoman, who'd sent the YouTube link to Roberts, a Kitzhaber spokesman and another lottery official. Stevens-Schwenger had written:

A week after Oliver's piece ran, Barbara Stitzel, a lottery retailer services manager, emailed Stevens-Schwenger:

Stevens-Schwenger replied:

-- Rob Davis