A conversation about Lotto

A US Government report concludes that a Lottery doesn't actually work, and in fact, harms the poor, un/under-educated and the minority groups:
Yet, this doesn't stop the Liberals/Progressives from demanding a lottery to "benefit education"...oh, and other studies report how most if any of the money received from lotteries does not benefit education:

The following is a real conversation between me and a "libtard":

Libtard:
"Yah, but your 'government report' is more than 13 years old. Better Luck Next Time!"

Me:
I really wish your earlier statement that my sources are "not current with modern gambling" was true, it might have prevented you from sounding like an idiot:

The following is 5 years old. It proves the 13 year old study is still correct and valid today:
Does the Illinois Lottery pay for education? Well, sort of ...

"Sure, Lottery money does fund education. But that just frees up other cash to be spent elsewhere."

==> Lotteries do not give more money to Education!

"Time to debunk one of the longest running myths in state government ... millions of dollars from losing Illinois Lottery tickets go to fund public education ... There was no requirement the lottery money be on top of what was already there. So, as lottery money comes in, it frees up other state tax money to spend elsewhere. How much education gets in the end is up to the annual political whims of state lawmakers and the governor."

==> i.e, for the slower of the Lemmings here, this means that Lotteries makes no difference to the total dollars spent on education.

The following is only 3 years old. It proves the 13 year old study is still correct and valid today:
Is The Lottery Shortchanging Schools?

"... in Illinois, where the state spends $6.5 billion a year on education, only $619 million, or one-tenth, comes from the lottery. In California, with an $84 billion education budget, the lottery funds only about $1.2 billion, or one-seventieth. In Florida, lottery proceeds cover one-twentieth of state education spending. In New Jersey, it's one-thirtieth; in Texas, one-fiftieth."

==> Lottery does not bring in as much as you would like to think.

"'We thought that it would be a windfall' says Michael Johnson, executive director of the Illinois Association of School Boards. He says the idea that lottery money adds to education funding is a myth.
'The general public -- they were fooled by this,' he says. 'The belief that that's additional money, above and beyond what we would normally get, that's the part that's not true.'"

==> Lottery was sold using a Myth. It is a lie.

"'Well, it's certainly one of the worst votes I ever made,' says former Illinois State Senator Dawn Netsch.
Netsch, whose vote helped pass the Illinois lottery in the 1970s, says lottery money simply replaces tax dollars legislators might spend on education, but instead spend on other projects.
'The lottery becomes part of the big pot of money that funds the basic functions of state government,' Netsch said. "

==> The people "benefiting" from the Lottery and the people who Passed it are both telling you, "it isn't true".

"In Florida, where lottery proceeds are a billion dollars a year, spending per pupil…has dropped nine spots from 37th to 46th in the nation since voters approved a lottery 20 years ago."

==> Spending per pupil decreases, even with a Lottery.

"In fact, our investigation of government spending in the 24 states that dedicate lottery funds for education yields a stunningly bad report card. The percentage of state spending on education is down or flat in 21 of those states from coast to coast."

==> Spending on Education decreased in nearly HALF the states with Lotteries, or did not increase at all.

"In Florida, former governor Lawton Childs, once called the lottery 'A great hoax on the people.'”
"This year, as he floated a proposal to privatize his state’s lottery, Illinois Governor Rod Blagovich called the lottery a 'shell game.'”
"... Dawn Netsh, who now teaches at Northwestern Law School, agrees. 'Many people, at least, still think of the lottery as being sort of an add-on, a supplement,' says Netsch. 'It never was that. It was a shell game from the beginning.'"

==> "Hoax", "Shell Game"... the words used to describe the Lottery.

The following is only 3 years old. It proves the 13 year old study is still correct and valid today:
For Schools, Lottery Payoffs Fall Short of Promises

"...North Carolina’s governor, Mike Easley, finally delivered on his promise to start a lottery...some voters...were persuaded by his argument that North Carolina’s students were missing out on as much as $500 million in aid annually as residents crossed the border to buy lottery tickets elsewhere."

==> I have heard this argument on this forum.

"Pitches like this have become popular among lawmakers who...have sold gambling as a savior for cash-starved public schools..."

==> Are you one of these "lawmakers" trying to persuade us toward the lottery.

"...a New York Times examination of lottery documents, as well as interviews with lottery administrators and analysts, finds that lotteries accounted for less than 1 percent to 5 percent of the total revenue for K-12 education last year in the states that use this money for schools."

==> Very small numbers.

"In reality, most of the money raised by lotteries is used simply to sustain the games themselves, including marketing, prizes and vendor commissions...nearly every state has increased, or is considering increasing, the size of its prizes — further shrinking the percentage of each dollar going to education and other programs."

==> I wonder what the Lottery administrators make per year? We hear about exxon executives and huge bonuses in the banking industry, but no one ever mentions how much the people running the lotteries walk away with. What about fraud and waste in these programs?

"In some states, lottery dollars have merely replaced money for education."

==> In other words, they reduce TAX spending on education and replace the lost revenue with Lottery money. The total spent on education does not change.

"...states eager for more players are introducing games that emphasize instant gratification and more potentially addictive forms of gambling."

==> The Camel's nose under the tent, so-to-speak. Is this where we want to go? Turn Utah into another Nevada?
The rest of that article is also very telling about the goals and uses of Lottery monies. Percentages used by schools are shrinking, Lottery monies being diverted away from Schools to the General fund (to cover short-falls), the misconceptions, misunderstandings and lies that accompany Lotteries...
Sounds great! (not!)

The following is only 2 years old. It proves the 13 year old study is still correct and valid today:
COLUMN: Lottery’s problems outweigh its merits

"Oklahomans voted in favor of the Oklahoma Education Act in 2004, which introduced the lottery to supplement funding of public education from pre-kindergarten to the university level. With such an innocuous and noble sounding title, people were misled into thinking the lottery would solve Oklahoma’s funding woes through generating money by joining the 42-state bandwagon that has a state lottery."

==> i.e. Oklahoma is full of Lemmings.

"Such funding is similar to using cigarette taxes to fund a cancer hospital ... "
"Using the lottery to fund public education is similar to taxing the poor over the rich."
"Educated people typically do not play the lottery since they understand extremely poor odds."

==> What do you do for funding after everyone is educated and not playing the Lottery?

"Rich people typically do not play the lottery since they already have plenty of money."
"Lottery players who buy tickets on a regular basis are typically people with low incomes hoping for that elusive bit of luck."

==> i.e. Lotteries prey on the Poor.

"Since the Oklahoma lottery has already fallen short of the projected $300 million, Oklahoma could not compete with a higher payout and another neighbor seeking the money of jackpot hunters."
"... the revenue for the latest fiscal year was $14.6 million below projections."

==> i.e. Lotteries do not stop people from going across state lines and buying Lottery Tickets in other states. Lotteries may not meet expectations.

"Of course, schools always need money, but the trouble comes with how the money is handled, not how it is spent ... the question is not whether there is enough money, but whether it is being spent wisely."

==> NOW we get down to the real question. If the money is being wasted and/or misused, having a Lottery will NOT fix that. It will only mean there is more money to waste or misuse.

The following is only 2 years old. It proves the 13 year old study is still correct and valid today:
This is only 5 years old, and is an official Florida Financial Report
In a report from "The School District of Palm Beach County, Florida" entitled, "FLORIDA LOTTERY FACTS – WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO?", (I have the PDF if you want it) you can read the following;

"Lottery proceeds have not been an enhancement to education because they have essentially just replaced a portion of the general revenue dollars that were allocated to education prior to the creation of the state lottery. Instead of receiving additional funds to provide increased educational opportunities, school districts are forced to use lottery funds for daily operating activities to make up for the reduction in general revenue allocations."

==> Lotteries do not give Education "more money".

Not to mention these other articles:
Laney warns against using lottery to fund education

"'It's not going to change the amount of money that goes to education, except that it may decrease it,'" said Laney, D-Hale Center.

==> Might be the only Democrat in Texas to Oppose the Lottery.

" ... the people of Texas want the lottery proceeds dedicated [to education] because voters believed the money would be going to education when they approved the lottery."

==> The people of Texas were LIED to, so that the Lottery would pass.

"Sen. Teel Bivins, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, said he wouldn't oppose dedicating lottery profits even though doing it would not result in more money for schools."

==> Even with the money dedicated to education, "it would not result in more money for schools"...

1 in 3 Lottery Winners Broke Within 5 Years
and
Winning Big Can Lead To Folks Filing Bankruptcy
==> You have a better chance at losing everything AFTER you win the Lottery than before.

Why poor people win the lottery

"... studies show that the heaviest lottery players -- the 20% of players who contribute 82% of lottery revenue -- disproportionately are low-income, minority men who have less than a college education."

==> Lotteries negatively affect the poor, un/under-educated, minorities. So, if you are a Rich, Elitist, Racist Snob, you will support a Lottery.

"'It really is government undercutting what government's role should be, which is encouraging people in financial straits to be responsible with their money', says Tom Grey of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling."

==> The deception doesn't stop at "educational lottery" when lottery dollars may or may not fund education, it also permeates personal financial responsibility. Are you more personally financially responsible if you play lottery or save your money (pay your bills, feed your kids, see a doctor, etc)?

"In a 1999 survey by the Consumer Federation of America and financial services firm Primerica, 40% of Americans with incomes between $25,000 and $35,000 -- and nearly one-half of respondents with an income of $15,000 to $25,000 -- thought winning the lottery would give them their retirement nest egg. Overall, 27% of respondents said that their best chance to gain $500,000 in their lifetime is via a sweepstakes or lottery win, the survey said.
Consider this: If you take that $150 a year and put it into a 401(k) or IRA at age 30, you'll have $28,000 by age 65, assuming a reasonable 8% rate of return, says Jim Holtzman, an accountant and certified financial planner with Legend Financial Advisors, in Pittsburgh. That figure doesn't even consider the added boost of contributing to a plan in which a company matches contributions. (See "Start investing with just $100.")
To save that $500,000 nest egg, you'd have to tuck away a little less than $100 a month starting at age 21. What's more likely: that you can find an extra $100 a month -- or that the 1-in-several-million odds of even the smallest seven-figure jackpot suddenly tilt in your favor?"

==> Only idiots would play the lottery to provide their retirement.

And what are some of the other side effects of a Lottery? You cannot just proclaim that "it will fund schools" without considering the rest of the impact on people in Utah. They do "impact studies" for new construction, so lets do an "impact study" for a Lottery:
Illinois Lottery: The Poor Play More

"John Brown started buying lottery tickets the day he turned 18...'On average, I’d say [I spend] about $25 a day,' said Brown, now 36, a laid-off laborer."

==> Ok, so he is using his unemployment checks to play the lottery. I wonder how the rest of the people in Illinois feel about having their tax dollars spend on gambling?

“'Lotteries are, in essence, a form of regressive taxation that distributes wealth and resources away from those who can least afford to pay,' said Paul Street, vice-president for research and planning at the Chicago Urban League. He said he was not surprised by the Reporter’s findings. '[Lotteries] especially extract wealth from communities of color, and most particularly from African Americans.'"

==> A lottery seems to be a "racist tax". Are you a racist "wolverine"? Would you like to institute a "racist tax" in Utah and call it a "lottery"?

"'The state’s deficits approached or even surpassed $1 billion this past year,' she said. 'Had the lottery not transferred $555 million to the state, the budget shortfall could have been significantly larger.'”

==> What is to stop the State Government from using lottery money like the Federal Government does with Social Security? Borrow against it? Reallocate it? The $555 MILLION here didn't even make it to the "schools" or for "education" of any kind.

State lotteries prey upon poor

"Proponents of a state lottery in Tennessee love to talk about well-funded schools, college scholarships and an end to state budget problems."

==> Sounds like some people in this forum, right?

"According to a recent Duke University study African-Americans, high school dropouts and people in the study's lowest income category spend the most money per capita on lottery tickets."

==> A high price on the people who cannot afford it.

"A few--very few--poor customers might even get lucky, strike it rich and turn their lives around."

==> We will discuss this in a minute. It isn't true.

"The odds against winning are astronomical, though, and for every lucky soul who spends the last few dollars of each month's paycheck to buy a handful of lottery tickets and wins millions, thousands more are just throwing their last dollars down the drain. Those extra few dollars could have bought Junior a good meal or a warm hat to wear on the long walk to school each morning."

==> Too high a price to pay. The "uneducated" and "destitute" are given a false "hope" with the Lottery.

There are some solutions, however, that might work, if we could find our way to them:
1) Reduce the number of administrators in the school districts
2) Increase the number of charter schools (the boards and administrators are mostly volunteers)
3) Consolidate school districts (no more of the city and county...just use county borders or state borders...)
4) Do not allow illegals into school system
5) Increase burden on families with more children
6) Reduce Legislator salaries and put excess back into Education
7) Reduce Legislator staff and other state/city/county staff, end "double dipping" and put all the savings into Education
8) All lobbyist "bribes" go into the general Education fund
9) Education budget as a percentage of the overall budget, and can only be increased
10) Normalize School Districts (spread the wealth)
and if you get really ambitious...
11) Do matching dollars. For every dollar donated to schools via private individuals and companies, the government matches those funds
12) Set up "public options" for education. Allow individuals and businesses to purchase "shares" of a school or school system
13) Get government out of education all together
(Disclaimer, I may or may not advocate some or all of these solutions.)

I am not a "liberal" but I sure wouldn't want to do what these liberals on this list are suggesting; it even goes against their core philosophy:

"In the nineteenth century, the excesses of unbridled capitalism created a change in liberal doctrine, which began to view government’s role not only as protecting individual liberties but also as regulating business and assisting the poor."

I have even compared the addition of a Lottery to the addition of a Cigarette Tax (or any Sin Tax):

The other side of the Lottery coin is New Taxes; something like a cigarette tax.
Now, how does a cigarette tax differ from a Lottery?

* They are both "voluntary" forms of "taxation". No one is forcing anyone to smoke, no one is forcing anyone to buy cigarettes.
* Lotteries mainly affect the Poor, Utah's poverty rate is around 10%. The smoker rate in Utah is about 9%, so taxing Cigarettes affects fewer people.
* I would assume the "drop-out" rate for High School is about 12% because the Graduation Rate is at 88%. So only about 12% of Utahans are "uneducated" or "under-educated".
* Like the lottery, the poor and uneducated are more likely to smoke.
* Minorities (especially African Americans) are more likely to play the lottery.
* And it appears that whites are more likely to smoke.

I realize that things are more complicated than this, and especially since the population of Utah is about 58% LDS, (they "normally" don't smoke or gamble), so there is far more study to do on this issue than simple numbers -- but if you look at what is listed here, and the way that Liberals, especially those on this list, reacted to the Cigarette Tax; you have to ask yourself, why are they so "for" a Lottery when it will affect a similar cross-section of our state in a similar way?

For the liberals to support a lottery but not a cigarette tax is what is called "Hypocrisy" (and/or racism).
**It is OK to tax the poor, uneducated minorities with a Lottery, but not to tax the poor, uneducated whites with a Cigarette Tax.**
I guess they justify it with something like, "it is ok as long as it benefits education".
If that is the justification, then why not earmark the cigarette tax money for education, then they can violate their core philosophy in equity of both races.

http://www.deseretnews.com
http://www.jointogether.org
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13162519
http://www.eurekalert.org
http://www.americanheart.org
http://www.chicagoreporter.com
http://science.slashdot.org


But, as I have said before, it isn't about money for schools, it is about power and control.