Do lotteries lie?
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March 18th, 2010
Everytime I turn around another tax or fee or money raising event is being done to raise money for the schools. I live in Virginia and there are a lot of elaborate schools being built but teachers are being consistently laid off.
However lotteries are suppose to exist to aid schools. Our local government taxes and federal taxes fund schools as well. If you look at cable bills and other bills there are hidden school taxes as well. I see the huge buildings but what good is it if there are no teachers. Schools seem to have money for football games and cheerleaders but apparrently not for text books or teachers.
Does the lottery work in your state?
Where is all this money going?
If you don’t have a lottery, do you feel your state is doing fine without it?
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8 Answers
Illinois:
The lottery was promoted as “all profits to benefit schools” which is true.
The part they did not tell us was that the school funding already in place would be dropped and the schools only income would be from the lottery.
Lotteries are supposed to exist to aid schools? That’s new to me.
I don’t like lotteries. It’s a vile system that exploits human irrationality, and it’s known to get the most financially vulnerable people deepest in trouble. It largely relies on poorly educated people buying into the fallacy that there’s a significant difference between an infinitesimal probability and complete impossibility, because it’s okay to indulge in self-destructive wishful thinking if technically there’s a chance.
The state employing a lottery for funding? That’s downright repulsive.
Edit: Excuse me, this has become more of a rant than of an actual answer. The arrangement your question is about just disturbs me.
No lotteries don’t lie, it’s the numbers and intent that is misleading! In Illinois we rake in around $620 million from the lottery that goes to the schools. Sounds like a lot but it only covers 3% of the 26 BILLION dollars that is needed to operate our school system. Hardly seems worth all the trouble.
@Cruiser How do you find out the amount your state schools spend? I found a lot of amounts for cut back but no total for the schools
“Do lotteries lie?”
Depends on if you see marketing as a hustle.
Personally, yes. That is the beauty of it. Lotteries play on our desperation as does any form of gambling.
Huh, lotteries funding schools…... what a morally bankrupt idea.
In the UK all public schools are funded by central governemnt taxes, as it should be.
No it’s the players who are kidding themselves thinking math is so uncool.
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