North Carolina Family Policy Council

A Notice of Appeal has been filed with the N.C. Court of Appeals in the lawsuit challenging the legality of how the Lottery Act was passed by the General Assembly. The N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law (NCICL) filed the notice Wednesday on behalf of all the plaintiffs, including the North Carolina Family Policy Council, following Superior Court Judge Henry Hight's ruling last week that the lottery was passed legally. In addition, a Petition for Discretionary Review will be filed with the N.C. Supreme Court asking them to take the case and bypass the Court of Appeals.

"As we have indicated from the beginning of this litigation, we feel that there are vitally important constitutional questions relating to the passage of the N.C. Lottery Act that need to be resolved with finality by our state's highest court," said NCICL's Executive Director Robert Orr. "With the lottery beginning in N.C. this week, the need for the quickest possible resolution of these issues is imperative. Millions of dollars will have been taken in by the state and debts incurred by the state to pay winners, while the appeal process moves forward. The constitutional issues involved not only affect the Lottery Act but potentially impact legislative enactments in the future," he added.

To learn more about this legal challenge to the lottery, download our policy paper "Lottery Lawsuit: Insuring the Integrity of the Legislative Process" by clicking here. To read more about why the lottery constitutes a tax download our paper "Is the Lottery a Tax? Generating Revenue through State-Sponsored Gambling" by clicking here.