Posted by When I first ran for office five years ago the discussion of having a lottery in Alabama was still prominent. I was against the lottery and was open about it when this debate came up.
Every once in a while I still hear people who push for the idea of lottery in Alabama. Most people who talk to me about say, “If we just had a lottery then all our education funding problems would be solved.” Well that is not exactly true.
My opposition to the lottery comes from a different angle than others. Setting aside the moral arguments my real opposition has always come from my thoughts that it just doesn’t work as far as a stable funding source for education. State after state that currently have a lottery “for education” have shown that while it might be something fun to play at times, it really has not paid big dividends for their education systems.
Currently 42 states and the District of Columbia have a lottery. The pitch that has always been made to voters in approving the creation of these lotteries has always been “vote for this, and fund our kids education.” A national study released this weekend revealed that state lotteries accounted for about 3% of state education revenues on average for states where these systems exist. The study also revealed that most money raised by lotteries was simply used to fund the cost of running the game themselves. The biggest part of lottery revenue actually went back into marketing and vendor contracts. Some states like Florida have used lottery revenues to actually replace previous education funding resources. Then once the “newness” of the game wore off, lottery revenue declined and the state found itself scrambling to find a solution to the financial mess.
Lotteries sound great in theory, but does government really need to be in the business of gabling on such risky revenue schemes?
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I could not agree more. Since when did government get in the business of funding gambling operations?
[...] Rep. Cam Ward (R – Alabaster) is talking about a lottery with a new post last evening in the Political Parlor’s Posts from the Legislature. [...]
A lottery is little more than a tax on stupidity. I find it ironic that many governments have chosen to pay for any portion of education on the backs of poor dolts who weren’t given a proper education by the state in the first place and understand next to nothing about probability.
I agree with the moral implications of government condoned gambling. However, I’ve always viewed a state lottery in this light…. Say there you won a 1-million dollar pot, to be paid out over 40 years. If you remove all capital gains tax (around 15% I think) you’d increase your income by about a whopping $25,000 per year. Not bad… if you have additional income.
Now if you told me that you were to have a state lottery that would say…. pay off my mortgage, and pay me $100,000 up front… I’d be interested. The total pay out would be less than $1,000,000, and the state would be killing two birds with one stone — helping to relieve overall liability for it’s citizens (albeit assuming liability upon itself), and generating 3-6% income for schools.
The truth is, I’ve voted against the state lottery, and will do so again. The problem is not morality, but accountability. The reason the education lottery does not perform is that the generated monies are earmarked for non-educational programs and legislative pet-projects, that qualify due to political sidestepping and legalease.
That’s my two cents.
That’s my two cents.
I guess that was my four cents…
I live on the Tennessee and Alabama stateline and I can tell you first hand that a lot of the politicians who voted for the lottery in the legislature now regret it. You can also stop in at the gas stations at Ardmore and see low income blacks buying numerous lotto tickets every payday. Its a sad situation to say the least.
[...] Alabama state representative Cam Ward has a post up at Doc’s Political Parlor outlining the paltry sum that education lotteries across the country actually contribute to education budgets. His data seems to come from a recent New York Times article. [...]
I wouldn’t mind a lottery and casino gambling noting that Alabama already has dog tracks.
I also wouldn’t mind getting rid of dog tracks – and not having lottery / casinos.
What I don’t like is the inconsistency of allowing one type of gambling industry over others. It’s almost like some powerful interests ‘gamed’ the system.
I do think that AL is losing lots of money to neighboring states that could stay here (industry jobs / taxes).
With higher education inflation in the double digits, I am guessing Georgian and Floridian
parents are delighted with their Hope Scholarship lotteries funded in part by Alabamians.
On my weekly trips to Biloxi casinos to aid their education system, I see more car tags from
Alabama and Louisiana than Mississippi, except for the huge employee parking lots. Sweet home
Alabama.
This was very informative