Show us the money

Lottery players don’t want the moon and the stars – they just want the money, Florida officials decided as they rejected a proposal to offer spaceflight as a big prize.

The idea of winning a ride on a Soyuz spacecraft to the international space station just did not appeal to lottery players, said Bob Nave, chief of staff of the Florida Lottery.

“It was an intriguing enough concept to present to our focus groups … but people like to win cash.”

The space lottery idea had been championed by Space Adventures, a Virginia-based company that has a contract with the Russian space agency for two seats on a Soyuz.

The company’s president and chief executive Eric Anderson, adviser Norm Thagard, a former astronaut, and Winston Scott, executive director of the Florida Space Authority met last summer with Lottery Secretary Rebecca Mattingly and discussed such ideas.

In a statement Anderson said: “While we respect the current position of the Florida Lottery, we are confident that a space lottery is viable and would generate much needed revenue for the state.”

Governor Jeb Bush called the idea interesting but outside of the lottery’s mission. “For the lottery to be successful, I think they need to stay focused on the fundamentals,” he said.

Thagard said the lottery would make spaceflight more accessible to people who do not have the $20m (€16m) that American Dennis Tito and South African Mark Shuttleworth each paid for their trips to the station on the Soyuz.

“Space tourism already exists, but it’s just not in the reach of most folks,” said Thagard. “This would certainly bring it down a notch i