# Lottery=Education **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 11, 2000, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-education/36588 "2000-10-11T19:32:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-education/36588/1 "2000-10-11T19:32:06Z")
So say the bumper stickers in my state (SC) advocating a lottery. SC is one of the few states not currently running a lottery, but the governor is pushing hard for it. It is being sold as an “education lottery.” That is the buzz word for it. What is it about lottery money that improves education? I have heard people from one state (GA) mention that the lottery has done a lot of good there, but they didn’t have any details. I’m not philosophically opposed to lotteries, but I would thing that a plethora of educated people is the last thing you’d want in a state depending on lottery money for income. ---
**Author:** ![VileOrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/9e8a1a/32.png) [@VileOrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VileOrb)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-education/36588/2 "2000-10-11T19:41:05Z")
Depends on where the lottery proceeds are put. If you earmark the proceeds for education and follow through, you should get better education. In Maryland, the lottery proceeds have been chronically diverted from the original plan (Oyster beds and education IIRC). I recommend you look at what guarantees you get that the money will be used as advertised before you form your opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-education/36588/3 "2000-10-11T19:51:09Z")
Any meaningful dollars diverted to education should be guaranteed. Also, you might check to see how education is funded in your state. If it’s not guaranteed, what happens, as in my state (California) is that funds originally directed for education is diverted for other uses, with the excuse that the lottery dollars will make up the difference. So what i’m trying to say is that, it’s a good thing provided that the lottery money would be over and above current education spending. hijack/ I mean good thing as a source of revenue for schools. I just want to pre-empt arguments about how the economically disadvantaged get taken advantage of, etc. end hijack/ ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-education/36588/4 "2000-10-11T20:05:38Z")
Sorry, forgot to put a cite, the following is a quote from [money.com](http://www.money.com/money/archive/magarticle/0,4015,6697,00.html) > [@](#): > > –Despite marketing slogans such as New York’s “Supporting education since 1967,” lottery states spend less of their budgets on education than do states that go without lottries, on average. Some lottery lovers are enticed not only by the prospect of getting rich quick but also by the comforting notion that their money will go to pay for teachers and schoolbooks. > > But MONEY has learned that states that specifically target lottery dollars to pay for public schools often go on to > decrease the share of general tax dollars budgeted to pay for education. The result: The proportion of state spending dedicated to education has remained relatively unchanged in the '90s–about 50% for lottery states and 60% for non lottery states–despite the growth in lottery revenues. ---
**Author:** ![2nd\_Law](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/f475e1/32.png) [@2nd\_Law](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2nd_Law)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lottery-education/36588/5 "2000-10-11T20:58:37Z")
In every state I’ve lived in, the “lottery money goes to education” claim is actually nonsense. For example, if the state allocated $100 million to education annually before the lottery, when the lottery proceeds work out to $50 million per year, the state legislature effectively says “Look at all this lottery money! We’ll cut education funds gathered by taxes by $50 million.” Net result, education funds don’t go up, and the lottery proceeds effectively go into the state’s general fund.