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David Spates Perhaps a state lottery
Here's the column you would have read had
it not been for Dr. Michael O'Shea and his overprotective notions
about sledding helmets. Sorry for the delay. Anyway, as I was about to say last week, Tennessee
is teetering on the edge of establishing a state lottery. It
seems that political insiders are fairly optimistic that the
issue of a state lottery will find its way through the state
Senate, which has traditionally opposed a lottery for years.
If a lottery gets through the General Assembly's House and Senate,
it then would go to us, the voters (not you, the nonvoters),
as a statewide referendum to amend the Tennessee Constitution,
which prohibits lotteries. At the earliest, that vote would happen
in 2002, during the same election in which we'll bid adieu to
Don Sundquist and vote in Van Hilleary, Doug Horne or whoever
it may be to the governor's chair. If we the voters (not you,
the nonvoters) give it a thumbs-up, the General Assembly then
would have to create all the laws and bureaucracy necessary to
run a lottery. So even if all that happens, gamblers won't be
picking Tennessee lottery numbers until 2003 or even 2004. And that, boys and girls, is how gambling
gets state approval. Set that to the tone of a Schoolhouse Rock
ditty and Generation X'ers will be humming it at the water cooler. I've written columns in opposition of a lottery.
My reasons for opposing a lottery have been numerous: *It's not the state's job to run gambling
scams. Make no mistake, it is a scam. Any game in which the odds
against winning the grand prize require two commas to measure
is a con. If you're looking to invest your money that way, I
know a couple of dot-coms out there who would just love to talk
to you about a business plan which involves no product, no profit
and no assets. If that doesn't suit you, check out the three-card
monty tables you'll find in any big city. Just pick the right
card of the three. It's that simple. You'll be rich in a matter
of minutes. Trust me. *For the most part, lotteries attract only
a small portion of the citizenry. People with money don't tend
to play the lottery. It's usually the people who can least afford
to flush their money down the toilet who play the lottery. *Government-run businesses -- now that's a
contradiction in terms. The one sure way to create a bloated
and improvident enterprise is to leave it in the hands of government.
If government is in love with the notion of dipping its hand
into our pockets for more cash via gambling, I say legalize other
forms of gambling that are not state-run and then tax those other
forms to the moon. I'm talking casinos, bingo parlors, off-track
betting, sports book and the like. How is one form of gambling
any different than another? Let the pros run the gambling operations,
and leave government to do what government does best -- tax and
spend. *Finally, I'm not convinced government effectively
spends the money it gets now. If I thought all the pork had been
trimmed, all the belts had been tightened, and all the backroom
deals had been done away with, maybe I'd rethink the concept
of creating new sources of government income. Knowing what I
know and seeing what I see, however, I don't think we're getting
all of our money's worth. Those have been among my reasons for opposing
a state lottery, and now that I look back on them I realize that
they're fairly strong arguments. However, with a baby on the
way, the economy taking somewhat of a downturn and my W-2 form
just days away, I'm starting to rethink my lottery position from
a more Dave-centered position. My reasoning is straightforward:
I don't really enjoy playing the lottery, and if I and my family
can avoid newly imposed taxes with the creation of a lottery,
then so be it. It'll be like a tax I don't have to pay. I'll
just sit back and watch the suckers buy lottery tickets at the
Kwikee-Mart on a regular basis and be thankful that we've avoided
a state income tax for another legislative session. It's selfish reasoning, I know, but what can
I say? Given the choice, I prefer to keep as much of the money
I earn as possible. I like a good game of chance as much as the
next guy. The Super Bowl pool in which I ponied up 10 bucks is
proof of that. Now I'm starting to think that MY best odds lie
in creating a state lottery, with my best move being not to play. |