SINCE 1987, the Commonwealth of Virginia has relied on a state-run lottery as one source of revenue. Although the income from the games technically goes into the state's general fund, the money typically has been dedicated to supporting the local primary and secondary schools that prepare students to attend higher institutions like the University. Although the state always can use extra streams of money, particularly during tough economic times such as these, it should remove itself from the lottery business in which it currently is engaged.
Simply stated, it is immoral for Virginia to produce, market and sell lottery tickets directly. Specifically, it is immoral for the Commonwealth to make a profit by exploiting the dreams and poor mathematical skills of a particular subset of the population.
The lottery has the real potential to affect numerous people's lives for the worse. To state the obvious, rich people typically don't have a need to play the lottery. Instead, economically disadvantaged people, seeking some relatively quick way out from an economically bad situation, spend a disproportionate amount of cash on these tickets.
The negative results of such purchasing are natural: People who could better use their money paying for food, clothes or rent waste their scarce resources. Even if the amount spent each week is small, it can amount to a sizable sum in a year's time.
The obvious response to this parade of horribles is to state that people can spend their money however they wish. They can buy booze, nice suits, big-screen television sets or lottery tickets. According to this rationale, any horrible results of the lottery appear because of voluntary decisions.
True enough. However, in these other examples, the government is not actively promoting their purchase. The Commonwealth hasn't spent millions of dollars pushing an advertising logo (crossed fingers), a corporate mascot (Lady Luck) or a general theme (buy lottery tickets for education). Even where the Commonwealth actually controls and sells alcohol, it doesn't put forward a Budweiser-like ad campaign. It doesn't promote slogans like "Jack Daniels: For the Children." The lottery, apparently, is a unique proposition.
Another justification for the lottery is put forward in an aggressive radio ad campaign: It helps pay for school projects. Without the lottery, those projects wouldn't be funded without a change in the state budget, one that might affect the middle-class. People would have to consider what priorities matter the most to them - does Johnny's school really need a stand-alone drama center - and what priorities would warrant higher taxes.
Assuming that encouraging poorer people to spend their money on a losing proposition is an immoral thing, the lottery fosters a socially harmful behavior, with the rationale that some good will come of it. Such a promotion of an ill-advised behavior mirrors most states' current reliance on cigarette tax revenue. As the states begin to enjoy the "free" money that comes from a certain behavior, they find that they cannot limit that behavior without bringing up politically sensitive discussions about budget priorities.
The financial justifications for the lottery also fail in that lottery proceeds inefficiently redistribute already-allocated state funds. As already stated, poorer people disproportionately participate in the lottery. Those same disadvantaged folks may receive some form of governmental assistance, be it Medicaid, food stamps or subsidized housing.
When people receiving such forms of support buy lottery tickets, some of that original government money gets shifted to support the lottery program. Unfortunately, only about 35 percent of that money transferred overall goes to the state coffers. Thus, if the state cared at all about efficiency, it wouldn't promote a program that, by its effects, recycles its own money that likely isn't going to help people in the way it originally was intended.
If the Commonwealth wants to prop up welfare programs or schools, it should do so in a way that doesn't rely on the potentially destructive behavior that the lottery encourages. In a perfect world, the Commonwealth never would've started down this particular road.
Unfortunately, it has. The lottery is expected to bring $329 million to the Virginia treasury (www.valottery.com/general.htm). Any attempts to terminate the lottery would be met with howls from the current beneficiaries of those programs.
One approach that might work would simply be to encourage the Commonwealth not to be so aggressive in promoting the lottery. Maybe it could advertise in the same restrained way ABC stores advertise. People who want to waste their money still could do so, but the state wouldn't be as active a party in bringing in new gamblers.
(Seth Wood's column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at swood@cavalierdaily.com.)
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