Play the lottery and you might win a million dollars. But not in North Carolina.
The only state on the East Coast to outlaw the lottery, North Carolina has recently reopened the legalization debate. Although House Speaker Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg, opposed the lottery in the past, he has announced that he would begin to support it so long as the lottery’s proceeds go to education and its advertising is limited.
Black named a bipartisan committee Monday—made up of 10 Democrats and four Republicans, mainly lottery supporters—to draw up legislation by April 11. The committee will bring together three bills already filed and add other ideas they expect will receive support.
This debate is familiar to North Carolina politics. In 2002, the House defeated a bill calling for the legalization of the lottery with an advisory referendum. This time, the legislation will not include a referendum provision—the decision will be made solely by lawmakers. The Democrats’ 63-57 majority in the House is expected to bring larger support this time around, officials said. But there is enough dissent that help from Republicans may be necessary for the bill to pass.
Since 2002, other factors have also come together that may give the lottery a greater chance.
Duke public policy and economics professor Philip Cook cited the financial advantages of having a state lottery. “We have a budget deficit in the state and this is one way to help close that deficit,” he said. According to the state legislature, in the upcoming year North Carolina will face a budget shortfall of about $1.3 billion.
Black estimates North Carolina residents spend approximately $300 million a year playing the lottery elsewhere and argues that the money could be well spent within the state. “We must keep that money in North Carolina for our own children and their education,” Black wrote in a special column for the Charlotte Observer Sunday. Instead of giving this money to other states, Black argued that North Carolina can benefit by spending it on school construction, reducing class size and granting more scholarships.
But some remain skeptical as to the extent to which the education system will benefit. “Whether it will help education remains to be seen,” Cook said.
Rep. Dewey Hill, D-Columbus, who recently switched sides on the issue in favor of the lottery bill, cautioned that the money must not go into programs already receiving funds. “I’m not sure where they’re going to put the money,” he said. “But if it will go for existing programs, I do not see the advantage.”
Representative and member of the committee in charge of writing the legislation Bill Owens, D-Pasquotank, cited popular support of the lottery in his constituency as a reason to go ahead with the bill. “According to recent polls, the majority now heavily favors the lottery,” he said. “One poll says that 65 percent of Republicans are now in favor. That says a lot.”
Cook echoed these sentiments. “It suits the public’s interest,” he said. “It is pretty clear that that’s something the majority would like to do.”
But despite these advantages, even supporters remain unenthusiastic about the morality associated with legislation. “Gambling is a moral sin, gambling is wrong,” Hill said.
Others argue that it is the state’s role in encouraging participation in the lottery that should be of concern.
“The state lottery agencies attempt to maximize their sales through using a variety of marketing techniques,” Cook said. “It seems inappropriate for the state to encourage the public to gamble. And the marketing and advertising campaigns do just that.”
In considering morality, some stress the greater sin of missing the opportunity to improve education. “I am not an advocate of gambling, but I believe that not providing our children with the best possible education in safe schools, and teaching them in cramped trailers, are much bigger sins,” Black wrote in his guest column.
The fact that Tennessee and South Carolina recently acquired lotteries may have also influenced greater numbers of North Carolina residents to play.
“It is not a matter of whether our people are playing the lottery—we know they are,” Owens said. “It’s a matter of where they are playing.”
But this debate may prove ineffective as the sentiment that North Carolina does not have enough votes to pass the legislation remains strong. Owens says only 50 members support the bill and so at least 10 votes are missing.
The bill is expected to reach the House in two weeks.
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