Education Lotteries

http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/lotteries_and_schools/2008/01/18/65614.html

Here is an interesting article about where the money from Education Lotteries actually goes and how it is spent. Many of these lotteries are built with the promise of providing extra money to the public school system without having to raise taxes. However, the truth is that less than 5 percent of public school funding actually comes from these state lotteries. If the money isn’t going to the school systems, then where is it going? Why do we still have to pay more taxes when the lottery was built to help stop a raise in taxes? According to a study done by the New York Times, a vast majority of the money spent on lottery tickets is used to support lottery administration and help fund prizes. The more players a state receives to play the lottery, the more funding that is used to increase prizes. This therefore results in a lesser amount of money that is actually given to the school systems. If the Education Lottery actually backed up its promise to provide extra money to the public school system, then maybe we wouldn’t have to get rid of sports and extracurricular activities due to money problems. I wonder if people would stop playing the lottery if they knew that the money they were spending was not being used for the promised cause of helping the public school system.