using a national per capita figure. Broadly interpreting these results, it appears that Alabama could expect somewhere between $85 million and $115 million in revenues from a lottery. That is between 1.8 and 2.5 percent of total state tax revenues. Fast forward to this year, Senator Del Marsh introduced a bill to legalize gambling at four sites across the state and create a lottery that will generate $400 million for the state’s coffers, 11,000 new jobs and an economic impact of almost $1.3 billion. Another factor to be analyzed is how lottery revenues are used. Each state determines where the money collected from lotteries goes by using its own unique formula. In Georgia, for example, about 64 cents of every dollar in revenue earned by the …show more content…
According to an article on the Alabama Policy Institute website, the same market forces that reduces Alabama’s tax revenue-putting the state in its current fiscal crisis-would have the same effect on a lottery. For example, during the Great Recession in 2008 to 2012, the revenues generated by lotteries for their states declined for an average of two years. Another economic decline would drive down revenues from an Alabama lottery, forcing the state to raise taxes and introduce more exciting and addictive games. Also with 95% of Americans already living in lottery states and many others living within a few hours’ drive from a lottery state, very few tourists would come to Alabama to play the lottery. This means that most of the lottery revenue will come from Alabamians resulting in a possible downfall for Alabama’s overall economy. For instance, other states have found that the discretionary incomes of residents that would have been spent on local businesses are instead being spent on lottery tickets, transferring large amounts of revenue away from local economies that would have used them to create jobs, goods and services. This is the opposite of the kind of economic stimulus a depressed economy needs. Also, lottery players are mostly poorer residents and lottery retailers are usually placed in minority neighborhoods. The lottery preys on those who can least …show more content…
For years, it has used loans, savings and one-time windfalls to balance its budget. Currently the state faces a $200-300 million shortfall, $700 million if borrowed money is included. Before this year’s budget was passed, Alabama legislators had three solutions to the budget deficit problem; 1) tax increases and budget cuts, 2) accept an offer from the Poarch Band of Creek Indians of $250 million to bail out budget shortfall in exchange to exclusive rights for casino gaming, or 3) legalize a state lottery. Ultimately the legislatures voted to raise tax on cigarettes and approved Governor Bentley’s budget cuts. However many Democrats and some Republicans believed that a state lottery would have been the way to go. Lottery proponents have argued for years that Alabamians are playing the lottery by crossing state lines; resulting in the state missing out on tax revenue that could be used to fund various education initiatives or patch the hole in the General Fund budget (Sims, 2015). By instituting its own state lottery, Alabama would retain the money that is currently being spent on lottery tickets in all of the border states that are benefiting from Alabama not having its own lottery. Although Governor Bentley doesn’t oppose a lottery, he points out that it would take years before citizens could approve it and the infrastructure could be set up. Coincidently, Senator
Gambling and the lottery is a tax on the poor. The Texas Tech University did research on the people who played the Texas Lottery and discovered that people with no high school diploma spent a monthly average of $179. They also did a study on what the average is on college graduates and the spend an average of $49 a month. As well as the Texas Tech study other studies show that people who live in lower income ZIP-codes spend more money on the lottery than anyone else. Gambling and the lottery is a tax
When you think of the lottery, what do you imagine? Gold, A new house, maybe a car? This short story is nothing like you’re thinking. “The Lottery”, by Shirley Jackson, conveys its message through the use of diction, dialogue, irony, and theme. "The Lottery" first appeared in the New Yorker in 1948.
Alabama is one of seven states that does not have a lottery system. Because of this, Alabama is missing out on millions of dollars per year. In fact, lottery systems generated $65.5 billion dollars in 2012, twenty-five of which goes directly to state funded projects (Isidore). That is an average of over a billion and a half dollars in revenue per state per year. If Alabama did approve a lottery system, the money it generated would go to education and healthcare. Alabama ranks forty-fifth and forty-sixth in these two areas respectively out of fifty states.
The Game of Lottery As mentioned before, the most popular form of lottery is the methed of random number selection. In the American lottery, a player first picks five different whole numbers between 1 and 59. Upon calculation, there are 5,006,386 combinations that could be made from the availability of these numeral combinations. After the player has chosen their five numbers, they pick another, final number that is between 1 and 35 - the powerball. A list of the combinations would look like (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), (1, 2, 3, 4, 6) and so on all the way up to (55, 56, 57, 58, 59). Thus, in calculating a player's chance
The concept of the lottery is the same throughout every state, people have money and are interested in “playing the odds”; the revenue from these people is then divided and used to benefit organizations of the state’s choice. Exactly where the money goes to is what differs from state to state. Some states put all the revenue from the lottery into one trust fund that is allocated for a more broad and generalized group. Other states target specific programs such as, preserving natural parks or assisting the educational system with additional funds. The State of Alabama does not have a lottery and its locals are the ones missing out. Due to the lack of the lottery in Alabama, those who choose to play the lottery must travel out of the state, which means their money goes to other state’s lotteries benefiting that states programs and ultimately its residents. By keeping the peoples money in the state a lottery will open an endless amount of opportunities to better state supported programs and the state as a whole.
The lottery offers a wonderful opportunity to possibly win millions of dollars. While this might seems amazing, it might not be as wonderful as imagined. In fact, maybe even the opposite might true as stated by numerous studies and research done since the 1970s.
The lottery in this country is a big past time for Americans. It gives hope to the hopeless and disappointment to a multitude of participants. A quick view of statistical information regarding the lottery shows that out of all people who take part in this country wide phenomenon, each individual person has a 1 in 175,223,510 chance of hitting the jackpot (AmericanStatisticalAssociation.org). The author of “Against The Odds and Against the Common Good”, argues that the state lotteries are “urging people to gamble”. Gloria Jimenez, of whom is the author of “Against The Odds and Against the Common Good”, creates assumptions that support her stance on her argument. Jimenez also uses the viewpoint from people who disagree with her logic, by stating various counter statements that contradict her stance. To fully understand Jimenez, we have to view the different factors of her stance on why states should not be urging people to gamble, assumptions that she makes to support her stance and countering views of people who don’t necessarily agree with her argument.
The Texas Lottery negatively impacts the people that play the lottery and the programs that are supposed to benefit from the proceeds. Because of the big dream of winning, the lottery has taken a toll on Texans. “People believe that the Texas Lottery is their only chance to strike it rich” (Buckland, 2010). There is not near enough money going towards the Texas Education
To what extent is the lottery beneficial to the North Carolina education system? What is a lottery? A lottery is used to raise money for the government and for people to win big money prizes. The North Carolina Education Lottery is a government-run organization that funds various education programs and school systems in North Carolina. If one hundred percent of lottery money went to education, it would only cover nineteen percent of the state’s total expenses for schools. The lottery is not beneficial to education in North Carolina if schools struggle to gain instructional supplies, and if the government has to cut spending for school funding levels to barely make it over the national average.
The Texas Lottery Commission is a fairly new entity in Texas that was established only 25 years ago. In history, Texas is known for its conservative values and policies, disregarding immoral practices such as gambling. In 1991, the Texas Legislature introduced an idea that could help change how Texas creates revenue to fund Texas education. The idea introduced was the establishment of a state Lottery, a form of gambling. Representatives introduced House Bill 54 to the House to establish a lottery system. It is later decided that Texans must vote to approve this new lottery. The citizens of Texas voted on this bill and the bill passed by a two-to-one margin. House Bill 54 is known at the Lottery Act of 1991. With the creation of the statewide
In her essay “Against the Odds, and Against the Common Good,” Gloria Jimenez asserts that states should not promote and advertize gambling. Jimenez lists many clever lottery slogans that are deceivingly interpreted. She also argues that these slogans advertise the advantages of gambling and playing the lottery because the money supposedly goes to things such as education and social service. Jimenez explains some arguments in favor of state-run lotteries, such as free participation and the creation of jobs, but argues that they are not relevant to the problem. She briefly touches on a statistic claiming that low income individuals are more likely to spend money on lottery tickets than their opposite, higher income
Robert, governmental funding can be seesaws up and down. I wonder what you meant by public or representative of federal government of several variances. Robert, your statement says in of millions and millions dollars generated by willing citizens. The lottery is a gambling system just like faith. We were allowing the lottery to achieve some success stories but there have been unusual effects. Robert, have you ever research on how the lottery was started and why. The economic issues happen in our government would have the funds not be able to release. The winner or winners have faith trust the system by playing a dollar and a dream. Yes, the sinful nature causes gambling to question our belief and faith.
The author than fails to tell the source of this experiment so the reader of her essay is left wondering if it is even valid evidence from a reliable source. These viewpoints are better placed with a thesis that reads, “States should no longer be in the business of the state lottery.” The evidence she brings at that point covers most of her essay and I do not find them addressing the issue of “the states should not be in the business of urging people to gamble” (Jiménez 116-119).
To support her side of the argument and to answer these counterarguments Jimenez share a few statistics. She tells us that the New York Times reported in 2002, that the state-run lotteries brought in a revenue of $20 billion dollars, and that this is only 4% of the states income. She also tells us about one study in a report from the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy that shows people who earned $10,000 a year bought almost three times as many lottery tickets than those who made $50,000 or more a year. This shows us that more poor people buy lotto tickets, so more poor people are paying the taxes that benefit education and social services.
The lottery is set in a small town with a population of about 300 people. In an annually