Smart money stays away from lottery

Editorial by Rocky Mount Telegram, September 24, 2013.

There is only one reason N.C. Education Lottery officials want to offer lottery ticket sales online – they know more people will throw away their money more often if that convenience is available.

Since its inception in 2005, the lottery has followed a pattern predicted by practically every newspaper in the state, including the Rocky Mount Telegram. The money that lottery supporters swore would benefit North Carolina schools “only” has been used to replace – not supplement – funds normally budgeted by the N.C. General Assembly for education.

Meanwhile, the marketing campaign on radio and television has only grown more garish – spinning the lottery’s hopelessly stacked odds into games somehow related to retired professional wrestlers and the old “Star Trek” television series.

Selling lottery tickets online, as gaming officials plan to do in November, is only the latest ploy to separate fools and money more quickly and more often. At least the tickets sold in convenience stores require someone to man the cash register. Will there be enough online operator jobs created to replace the ones lost at convenience stores?

The money generated by the lottery is too big to go away, even though Republican legislators once swore up and down they hated the idea of a state-run game of chance. Of course, that was before they controlled the N.C. General Assembly.

Smart people will not be affected by a new venue for lottery ticket sales. They’ll simply continue to keep their money in their pockets – where it belongs.