Geddings is former chief of staff for Gov. Jim Hodges and head of the S.C. Education Lottery Coalition, and Thackston is coordinator of the anti-lottery campaign of the United Methodist Church of South Carolina. The Lottery Forum, sponsored by the student-led Public Policy Committee , will be held at 4 p.m. in Leonard Auditorium in Wofford's Main Building. The event is free and open to the public. Local college and high school students especially are encouraged to attend the event. Hodges has said he will use proceeds from a lottery to improve the state's public schools and provide college scholarships.
Opponents say a lottery is an unreliable, unstable way for the state to raise money.
Thackston, a 1956 graduate, retired from the South Carolina United Methodist Church Annual Conference in 1997 and was named by Bishop Lawrence McCleskey to coordinate the anti-lottery campaign of the United Methodist Church of South Carolina. Geddings, a 1986 graduate of Wofford, has led Hodges' movement promoting the passage of the state lottery.