You can check most states with a lottery and you will find that a few years after the lottery comes in, while people are still playing, the legislature cuts the allocation for education in the general budget. After all - the schools are getting millions from the lottery. They keep cutting for several more years.
Then, as lottery sales peak and start to decline, schools get less money from the lottery. The lottery has to spend more to promote and advertise the lottery. (HOW many scratch-off games do we have now?)
But the money that used to be in the general budget for education is now funding other things, so the legislature can't increase general budget money for education because it's not there any more.
It's a proven recipe for disaster. States like New York and California went down the path many years ago, but we were late to the lottery game. We're just starting to wake up...
That's the same path every state follows
You can check most states with a lottery and you will find that a few years after the lottery comes in, while people are still playing, the legislature cuts the allocation for education in the general budget. After all - the schools are getting millions from the lottery. They keep cutting for several more years.
Then, as lottery sales peak and start to decline, schools get less money from the lottery. The lottery has to spend more to promote and advertise the lottery. (HOW many scratch-off games do we have now?)
But the money that used to be in the general budget for education is now funding other things, so the legislature can't increase general budget money for education because it's not there any more.
It's a proven recipe for disaster. States like New York and California went down the path many years ago, but we were late to the lottery game. We're just starting to wake up...