Why Don't we have a Lottery?

[Wuptdo]

I hope that one of your good folks in CP has the winning ticket!

AP News Back to News
One Person Captures at Least $230 Million in Mega Millions, Biggest Winner in Lottery's History
2/21/04 5:15PM



If you are the winner, you can now afford to buy all of us a beer at "Pure Gold!" Many thanks.

But back to the orginial question. How come we don't have a lottery in this State? Is this going to be an issue in the upcoming elections?

Wuptdo B-)

[johnb]

Because black donkeycrat politicians are convinced the lottery harms poor blacks and religious conservatives don't want the government pushing yet another vice.

That's why.

[Wuptdo]

The NC Lottery Bill is moving forward.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/news/040505_APstate_lottery.html


The dream is slowly becoming a reality.

Wuptdo :D

[johnb]

It ain't gonna pass wup.

All a lottery is is a tax voluntarily asessed against people who don't make enough to pay the income tax. That is one of it's redeeming features.

[Brent]

All a lottery is is a tax voluntarily asessed against people who don't make enough to pay the income tax. That is one of it's redeeming features.

It is a tax on people who don't know how to do math.

[Don]

Wup,
Don't be so quick to push for a lottery. All it will do is give the politicians another kitty in which to pay for pork projects. (or maybe reward political allies with discretionary funding???) Hmmmmm...........

The lottery hasn't fixed any budget problems in California, why would it here? We (North Carolina) don't have a revenue problem - We have a spending problem. Fix the spending problem, and we will probably operate just fine.

[Wuptdo]

JohnB - what about hope. For most folks there is no hope, no way to escape the drudge of everyday life. We work and work, and everytime we think we are getting ahead, the government thinks of another way to make us either work harder for less money or figure another way to tax us.

A lottery is all about hope! Hope of breaking the shackles of either poverty or oppressive employment. It may be the only way that some folks will have a chance to catch the "brass ring" of life. What are the odds, probably nil. But I would rather split my "church" money in half and buy lottery tickets were I may have a chance at a better life for my family. I think a 50/50 split between God & government works. Beside it is my choice, and that it the real issue.

Wuptdo B-)

[washere]

Cross-linking related thread from local issues:
http://www.carypolitics.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=1135

I suspect the REALTOR lobby will be pushing this bill HARD.

There was a great segment on PBS Sunday about the lottery in NC. They had a democrat and republican (I didn't pay attention for their names) civily discussing the issue.

It was really a great piece. Did any of you guys happen to catch it?

[Wuptdo]

DonF - man, you hit the nail on the head. But "we" keep putting people in office that want to spend, spend, spend. (I signed the petition! :wink: ).

And you are also right, the spending will be currupted after a few years. Yeah it did in Flordia, but Jeb Bush, brought the money back in education. Not that it matters, but IMHO:

1) % of money to be used for discrepancy in school funding (Leodarndo Case?)

2) % of money for "teacher" scholarships

3) % of money for scholarships/reduction in cost for teacher masters degrees prgrams

4) % of money for vocational training in High School

5) % of money for Community Colleges for adult re-training

Yeah, I know, pie in the sky.

Wuptdo B-)

[johnb]

Brent- [It is a tax on people who don't know how to do math.

I think I said the same thing, one of us is being a bit more blunt. ;)

Being poorly educated is USUALLY an effective way to remain monetarily poor as well.

Wup,

It's a fools hope. The lottery banks on the existance of a lot of fools.

I prefer to think of it as an idiot's tax, it allows the idiots to set their own tax rate. I set mine at 0%. I'd have it phased in with reduction in personal income taxes. At the same time urging leftwing loons to "do their duty to the 'less fortunate' by buying more lottery tickets" it would be "all natural", "organic", and offer a "holistic fiscal approach to a sustainable state budget". Stop being mean all you leftist wing kooks, buy more lottery tickets!

[washere]

NC House passes lottery bill
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7407584/

RALEIGH, N.C. - The North Carolina House approved a lottery Wednesday in a vote that could bring a state-operated numbers game to the only state on the East Coast without one.

The House voted 62-58 in favor of a lottery bill that would dedicate profits to school construction, scholarships and other education initiatives.

The bill would also ban lottery advertising anywhere except the sites where the tickets are sold.

Democratic Gov. Mike Easley has been pushing a lottery for education needs since taking office in 2001. House Speaker Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg, and his lieutenants pushed a bill through a lottery committee earlier in the day.

Though past lottery proposals had met their demise in the House, supporters finally persuaded enough worried about education funding to come to their side.

"I'm not so passionate about a lottery, but I am passionate about education,'' Rep. Alma Adams, D-Guilford, said during an hour-long debate that preceded a swift floor vote.

Despite objections from the floor, Black pushed through a second-required voice vote immediately after the roll-call vote.

The measure now goes to the Senate for consideration. The Senate historically has favored a lottery but hasn't voted on a bill in a dozen years.

[Wuptdo]

From today's N&O:
Democrats feel heat on lottery
House holdouts are targeted

By DAN KANE, Staff Writer

Legislative leaders trying to break a logjam on the state's budget are pressing reluctant House Democrats to support a much more aggressively advertised lottery than the version that squeaked through the House in April.

Several House members have opposed a lottery that would attract ticket buyers through billboard, TV and radio campaigns that promote big-dollar jackpots. They fear such a lottery would prey on people who could least afford to play it.

In exchange for supporting a more aggressive lottery, House leaders say the proceeds would go toward needs their members favor -- college scholarships for needy students and school construction.

An agreement on the lottery would remove one of the key obstacles to a $17 billion state budget proposal. House and Senate budget writers are racing to put the proposal together before a stopgap spending measure expires Friday. They are more than a month behind the start of the new fiscal year.

"You have to be sort of realistic. If you are going to have a lottery, you have a lottery," said Rep. Bill Culpepper, an Edenton Democrat who is chairman of the House Rules Committee. "And if you are going to raise revenues for good and noble causes, then you go out and raise the revenues."

The lottery compromise is one of several proposals that Democrats, who have a majority in the House and Senate, are being asked to grapple with as part of the budget talks.

House Speaker Jim Black said the two chambers are still trying to settle on a cigarette tax increase of 25 cents or more, pay raises for state employees of 2 percent or more, and a Senate proposal to let UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State University set their own tuition. Culpepper said many House members are adamantly against the tuition proposal, fearing it could unravel the 16-school UNC system.

Meanwhile, Sen. David Hoyle, a Gaston County Democrat and co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said House and Senate leaders had agreed to drop a proposed 7 percent sales tax on entertainment such as movies or concerts. No decision has been made on the proposed tax for cable and satellite television. But the sales tax would apply to candy.

Senate leaders favor a more aggressively advertised lottery and amended language to that effect in their budget proposal. But it's unclear whether enough House Democrats will agree to the lottery compromise as part of the budget. All House Republicans and one Democrat, Rep. Bill Faison of Orange County, are expected to vote against the budget because of various tax increases. That leaves 62 Democrats for a budget that needs 61 votes to be approved.

As a result, the nine House Democrats who voted against the lottery in April are starting to feel the pressure. Rep. Pricey Harrison, a freshman from Greensboro, appeared distraught when she emerged from a caucus of House Democrats in which Black pitched the lottery compromise.

"I hope the resistance keeps that out of there," Harrison said. But she couldn't say whether she would vote down a budget with the provision.

Another opponent, Rep. Garland Pierce, a Baptist minister for 25 years, said he wouldn't let such a provision stand in the way of his support for the budget.

"It may sound like I'm rolling over," said Pierce, a Scotland County Democrat, "but there's just too many things in the budget that people need."

Gov. Mike Easley, a Democrat, has long sounded the drumbeat for a state lottery, one in which the proceeds would go toward education. North Carolina is the only state on the East Coast without a state lottery. With the House passing lottery legislation this session for the first time in modern history, he's as close as ever. The Senate has passed lottery bills in previous sessions.

But the House bill limited advertising to the point of sale. Easley and other advocates started to worry the lack of advertising would drive down the $400 million in estimated profits a lottery would bring.

They also worried that the multistate, big-jackpot games such as Mega Millions and Powerball would pass over North Carolina because of the lack of advertising. Those games are run by lottery officials in the member states.

Officials with both games said Tuesday that they would welcome North Carolina regardless of its advertising policy.

"It's generally been our experience that the more the merrier," said Mike Edmonds, director of the Wisconsin Lottery, which is a Powerball member.

Wisconsin and Virginia both have lotteries with restrictive advertising policies that don't allow get-rich-quick pitches, and they post the slim odds of winning. But they count on the billboards, TV and radio ads to reel in ticket buyers.

"Having people aware of the jackpot is what moves them to buy," said Donna VanCleave, interim executive director for the Virginia Lottery, which participates in the Mega Millions lottery.

It's so crucial that Virginia lottery officials can post new jackpots on the 53 billboards across the state almost instantaneously. All it takes is one phone call that transmits a radio signal.

Staff writer Dan Kane can be reached at 829-4861 or dkane@newsobserver.com.

This is all I want for Christmas! :-D

Note to self: E-mail Jenny and let her know this is on my Xmas list

Wuptdo B-)

[StanN]

Sounds to me that the lottery will pass this time.
When I want to gamble, I have lots better ways of making money than the lottery.

Whats your favorite stock? mutual fund?

stan

[johnb]

Me too Wup. Stupid people across the state would begin to pay state taxes for the first time in their lives because of it. In addition to that it would shift some of the burden of financing government onto the backs of those who demand more from that government.

My anticipated tax rate with the lottery will be an effective rate of 0.0%. It'll be a cold day in hell before I ever pay the Idiot's Tax. Although, I encourage all of you to pay often and dearly. The more you volunteer to pay, the lower state sales/income taxes can be taken.

[Brent]

I repeat: It is a tax on people who don't know how to do math.

[johnb]

So you're not gonna be playing the lottery....that means Stan or Hyatt will have to buy 2x as many tickets to make up the shortfall.

We need to see the love, buy NC Lottery tickets! It's for the children. {tm}

[Wuptdo]

Off topic, but -

JohnB wrote:
We need to see the love, buy NC Lottery tickets! It's for the children. {tm}


From the N&O's Barry Saunders column dated 2 August 2005:

Usually when someone drops that "for the children" jive on you, they're talking specifically about what's best for their pampered, overindulged offspring.
8O 8O 8O 8O

Wuptdo B-)

[Wuptdo]

From today's N&O:

Sides Scramble over lottery (http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/politicians/legislature/story/2717597p-9155328c.html)

There are five democrats that have an opportunity to finally do something good for the working folks in this state. They include: Kinnaird, Janet Cowell of Raleigh, Charlie Albertson of Beulaville, Dan Clodfelter of Charlotte and Martin Nesbitt of Asheville.

I urge all supporters of the lottery to e-mail Janet Cowell (Today) and let her know that we want a education lottery - it's for the children!

janetc@ncleg.net

Thanks!

Wuptdo B-)