Gambling our kids
by Matt Worley

A little over a year ago the voters of New Mexico, like many other states in the U.S., approved a statewide lottery. A little under a year ago, scratch off lottery games began to great success. Considering the low population of New Mexico, legalized gambling has been quite successful. In October, New Mexico joined a bunch of other states in the Powerball lottery drawings. Just last week, we got our own daily millions game. The politics, however, have just begun.

Before any of this was even approved by the voters of the state, newspapers were loading the gun, so to speak. Pro-gambling stories about dirt poor families who became millionaires began to creep into the back pages of A sections. At the same time, anti-gambling stories (usually about a husband who lost entire family savings at local Indian gambling blackjack tables) got major play as well. It was balanced coverage meant to inform the public about the ups and downs of betting the future for immediate gains.

I've always been in favor of gambling, mostly from the standpoint that it brings a little thrill to an otherwise ordinary gas fill-up day. I've driven all over the country in the last ten years or so, and usually I pick up a couple lottery tickets at every gas stop. The worst state (as far as winnings are concerned) was Kentucky, and the best has been Texas. I can't really explain it since most of the time odds on a winning scratch off ticket is around 1 in 5. The most I've ever won from a single ticket is $15.

As far as the lottery drawings go, the odds are much worse, but the winnings can be so much greater. While living in Florida, we played one or two sets of numbers each week. We never won anything. Since Powerball started in New Mexico, I've played one or two sets of numbers on most drawings (although since they are twice a week, I've skipped a few because of low jackpots). I've won a total of $2.

Like in almost every other state, the net earnings from the lottery in our state go to education. When the New Mexico plan for splitting up the lottery money came out, it was applauded by many other states (especially in light of the screw job the Texas legislature did on their education system). 60% of lottery earnings go to school building costs, and 40% go to scholarships for state kids to go to college. Now, less than a year after the lottery has begun making extra money for education, the law makers of New Mexico have decided to screw their kids as well.

Apparently we need more prisons. This is the big message the legislature wants us to understand. And, of course, someone has to pay for it. At the moment, a bill is going through committees to make scratch off tickets taxable, meaning a dollar ticket would cost $1.05. The extra five cents would go to building new jails. Since most people don't carry around tons of spare nickels, it has been publicly assumed by the state law makers that the lottery would absorb the tax and still sell tickets for the original flat dollar rate. This means the five cents doesn't have to come from the consumer, it comes from the money being made for the kids.

Maybe someone is missing something here. Prisons tend (for the most part) to hold people who are non-college educated, non-high school graduate criminals. Schools tend to hold kids with the potential of being college-bound high school graduates. Not to turn my back on those who have disregarded the laws of society (not to mention the government they live under), but shouldn't we be trying to help kids succeed in life instead of building them boxes to sulk in when they fail? I'll buy my Powerball ticket today knowing two things: 1) I won't win. 2) The New Mexico legislature hasn't passed their idiotic ideas yet, so I'm still helping (in a small way) some kid fulfill his potential.

Matt Worley has been known to play a good game of poker, but he's only lost his shirt during private, in-house games.

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