Experts call lotteries cannibalism economics. Georgia s lottery is generating billions of dollars for education. However, even with the high-ticket revenues the lottery has been unable to meet its full obligation to education for the past two years. Under Georgia law, the lottery is required to pay 35 percent of revenues to the state for education. The Georgia Lottery has been forced to dip into reserve funds and unclaimed prize accounts to fund education.
Lotteries don t prey on the poor.
Advertising campaigns in many states deliberately target low-income neighborhoods. In addition, of the students who received HOPE funding, the average income is higher than the state average. Families and children are not negatively affected by the lottery. Families suffer when there are increased rates of bankruptcy, high debt, depression and suicide all of which can be problems associated with compulsive gambling. In addition, studies show that in states with lotteries, five percent of all children age 12 to 17 have gambling problems related to playing the lottery.