Why not start a national lottery?

[spin]

Canada has a national lotto as does Great Britain and many other countries.

For a list of countries with a national lottery visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lottery#Americas

Surely the money raised could help in our current financial crisis to provide money for programs that might not receive funding.

Great Britain has used the money form the lotto for many projects:

Without the Lottery there might have been no new Wembley Stadium, no national cycle network, no velodrome in Manchester, no Eden Project in Cornwall, no renovation of the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden.

Nor would there have been new village and community halls, bowling greens, cricket nets, arts clubs and so much more in towns and villages in every corner of our country. Over the past 14 years, the Lottery has been the essential ingredient in the greatest enhancement of cultural and sporting life in Britain over the past century.

***********snip**********

Over time, Lottery proceeds can further advance the renaissance of British sport and the arts; widen leisure for every age group; improve services for the disadvantaged; and repair our ancient buildings for future generations to enjoy.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/3561658/Labour%27s-raid-on-Lotto-money-must-stop.html

[CTyankee]

1. Italy has 2 national lotteries. One goes into the nation's revenue the other is dedicated to Italy's

cultural heritage, it's art and architecture. Italy realizes that it must maintain and restore their heritage. It is what makes it Italy. And it is why millions of people visit that country every year. The Italians are more thanwilling to make their own investment in that.

[robinlynne]

2. how about jsut get the three trillion back " missing" from the Pentagon?

[soothsayer]

5. amen! funny coincidence, rummy announcing that on sept 10, 2001...

wonder what distracted us from that huge story.

[dysfunctional press]

3. there are several multi-state lotteries...

and lots of single-state lotteries.

[spin]

21. Therefore, why not a national lottery?

[dysfunctional press]

22. overkill?

my point is that there are already PLENTY of lotteries available for those that want them.

[Andy823]

4. The problem with lotteries

Is that many times they are supposed to be used for certain things, but end up being spent on all kinds of BS, other than what they were originally to be used for.

I think that somehow it would have to be monitored to prevent it from being used for things that are basically not in the interest of the country, but end up being spent on projects that only help out some special interest group. If it was well managed I think it might be a good idea, but I have my doubts about it being managed in a way to help out the people of this country, and not must special interest groups.

[pinqy]

6. Why do you want to increase taxes on the poor?

Although voluntary, lotteries are still a tax (government revenue) and poor people pay a lot more into this tax than rich people.

[wuushew]

7. Gambling is the exchange of money for a lesser chance at the same money

Nothing is created, nothing is built. There is no investment. It is just a big money shuffling scam.


How long can an organism recycle its own waste before it dies?

[Earth_First]

8. Can we completely legalize marijuana sales too?

and retroactively release all those who are serving non-violent marijuana-related sentences?

[spin]

15. Sounds like a good idea to me...

it should have been legalized years ago. Somehow we got caught up in the "war on drugs", which had proven to be a very expensive failure.

[Sanctified]

9. Lottos are a tax on the Poor. n/t

[Belial]

10. Curious as to how lotteries are a tax on the poor?

[scheming daemons]

12. No.. they're a tax on the mathematically illiterate

[spin]

18. I always buy one lotto ticket a week...

true, my chances of winning are close to zero. But, if I don't buy that one ticket, my chances of winning are exactly zero.

[Sanctified]

16. Poor people disproportionately spend more on lottos.

There was a study done that shows that the poor and less educated who play lottos spend more money on them than middle class and wealthy people. A poor person who plays the lotto is more likely to spend $50 a week on it over a wealthy person who will spend $10.

[ipfilter]

11. Every dollar spent on a lotto ticket is a dollar

this is not spent on something else. No wealth is created.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

13. Only State and local governments are allowed to run lotteries in the US?

I didn't know that.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

14. Why not? Put 1/2 the proceeds towards funding Social Security and 1/2 to pay down deficit

Also, somehow structure it so that there will be many multiples of winners. More winners, smaller purses that will be dispersed into the economy.

[scisyhp1]

17. Only if we also mandate the rich to buy the tickets in quontities

proportional to their income. Then I'll be all for it.

[Dappleganger]

19. Lotteries only offer broken promises.

Florida promised to use lottery proceedings to help education and I've yet to see that happen.
It's a tax on those who can least afford to give up extra money.

[spin]

20. Yes, Florida did play a shell game with the lotto money...

the voters could change that.