The group is asking local citizens to write letters to their lawmakers in Raleigh, regardless of whether the lawmaker supports or opposes the lottery. Leaders of the group said that people who run the lottery could not care less about the education of the children of this state, and that they're only in it for the money. They said that lotteries take away money that is used to feed family. They cited a grocery chain on the West Coast that took out a full-page ad against the lottery in their state once they discovered that their grocery sales went down by the same amount as their lottery tickets went up. They also said that large chain stores in Florida discontinued selling lottery tickets because of the damage to food sales.
Studies show that lotteries are a false promise when it comes to increasing education funding.
The reason for such a direct answer is that the group is arming its members with the information via hand outs at meetings and its web site on the internet. The group backs up their answers with documentation and cites a Money magazine study showing that as lottery sales increase, states begin to earmark less of the general fund for education. They continue saying that Money said that states without lotteries actually spend a greater percentage of their budget on education than lottery states. Group leaders also told those at the meeting where local area state representatives and senators stood on the lottery issues. The groups plan to continue their meeting across the state to try to defeat the lottery issue in North Carolina.