Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 28, 1993 TAG: 9403100013
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Would the games lure organized crime and corruption? State Police say there's no evidence this has happened.
Would the poor fall prey to get-rich-quick hopes and do without groceries to play? No doubt some have, a tragic and unseemly result of a state program. Lottery officials, though, point to studies indicating that the games are supported overwhelmingly by the middle class, not the poor.
Would the lottery promote and feed addiction to gambling? Alas, on this score the dire warnings have proven all too true. There is at least one victim induced by the lottery into an incurable dependence on gambling.
We refer, of course, to Virginia's state government.
Voters approved the lottery in a November 1987 referendum, and the first tickets went on sale five years ago, in September 1988. Since that time, the state has gotten hopelessly hooked.
The governor and General Assembly have held the winning numbers: 140, 156 , 287, 290, 297. These are the revenue figures, in millions, that the lottery produced for the state in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993.
Initially, state government used the proceeds to underwrite capital-construction projects. But in the economic downturn that caused revenue shortfalls four years ago, lottery funds were tapped to help balance the budget. The governor and legislature have commandeered them for the state's general fund ever since.
This is not really a broken promise, and anyway, the money was needed. Some Virginians still complain that lottery funds were supposed to be dedicated to education, but this was never pledged. Others feel betrayed because they believed a portion of proceeds would be returned to localities, but the state never made this commitment either.
(Sorry. Campaign promises by politicians don't count as a state commitment.)
Actually, the state's lottery income - more than $1.1 billion, in total - has helped support public education. Slightly more than half of the state budget goes to public education, and the lottery money is in that budget pot.
Because aid for localities also comes from the general fund, localities effectively also share in the lottery proceeds - albeit, not as much as the localities would like.
This newspaper was no cheerleader for the lottery's passage in 1987. We're still not convinced the state ought to be in the business of sponsoring and promoting gambling. (Unfortunately, you tend to hear about about the few winners, not the thousands of losers.)
We also continue to predict, on the basis of other states' experience, that lottery income will fall, while pressures will rise to mount harder-sell campaigns to encourage participation.
But we must give the devil his due. Since its founding, this state's numbers game has by all appearances been run fairly, cleanly and efficiently by the Virginia Lottery Department.
The lottery's integrity has not been questioned, as it has, for instance, in West Virginia. The games have provided entertainment; the funds have been put mostly to good use.
It's a clean, mean money-machine that is celebrating its 5th anniversary. We wish the lottery's operators better luck than the vast majority of its customers will ever enjoy.
by CNB