Family (Un)Values
How the lottery would hurt our North Carolina values
The lottery is an anathema to healthy family life. Compulsive gambling is associated with self-destructive behavior such as drug use, violence, teen suicide, spouse abuse, homelessness, crime, and child abuse. The lottery companies, in an ever-spiraling cycle of seductive new games and more advertising often cross both the boundaries of fairness and good taste by targeting the poor and seniors in efforts to get people to spend more money on their losing propositions.
Fixed Income Seniors Targeted By Lottery Companies
At least one state lottery has tried to publicly target the senior market. With ticket sales to senior citizens in decline since 1990, the Maryland Lottery targeted seniors in 1993 with a "Lottery on Wheels," a mobile game-playing machine that visited convalescent homes and shopping malls where seniors walked for exercise. Ticket sales to seniors jumped from 21 percent of total sales in 1993 to 24 percent in 1994 and 1995. After the State Attorney General initiated an investigation, the practice was ended in Maryland.
Laura Sullivan, "Lottery goes for the gray," Baltimore Sun, August 8, 1997.; Howard Libit, "Lottery ends game aimed at the elderly," Baltimore Sun, August 19, 1997.
Seniors Can be Devastated by Gambling Losses
The spread of legalized gambling across the nation has also led to an increase in the number of senior citizens facing financial ruin because of problem gambling. Seniors face a bigger problem because many live on fixed incomes and often are financially crushed by the time they seek help.
Robert Sargent, "Gaming industry finding retirees are good bet," Orlando Sentinel, February 9, 1998.
Homelessness Associated with Gambling Addiction
In a random survey of more than 1,100 persons in 26 Rescue Mission shelters in early 1998, 18 percent — almost one-fifth cited gambling as a reason for their homelessness. Eighty-six percent said they used to play, or still played, the lottery, compared to 34 percent who gambled at casinos and 25 percent who bet on horse and dog races. Only 23 percent continued to gamble once they became homeless, yet that number rose to 37 percent after they began to pull their lives back together.
Phil Rydman, "Nationwide survey: Nearly one in five at missions say gambling a factor in their homelessness," press release by the International Union of Gospel Missions, March 13, 1998.
Suicide Associated with Compulsive Gambling
The National Council on Problem Gambling found that approximately one in five pathological gamblers attempts suicide. Similar studies of compulsive gamblers in New Jersey, Wisconsin and Illinois report that 18 percent of compulsive gamblers in those states have attempted suicide.
National Council on Problem Gambling, Problem and Pathological Gambling in America: The National Picture, January 1997, pp.14-15. Gerald Shields, "Commission looks at social odds of gambling," Sun-Herald (Louisiana), July 24, 1997.
Spouse Abuse Associated with Gambling
Almost 20 percent of spouse abuse cases involve domestic disputes related to gambling.
Larry Braidfoot, Gambling: A Deadly Game (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1985), p. 156.
Gambling Industry Admits Lottery is Addictive
Of the 38 lotteries around the country, 35 print warning messages on tickets or in brochures stating that gambling can be addictive.
Loretta Tofani, "Pa. Lottery tickets to bear warning on risks of gambling," Philadelphia Inquirer, September 12, 1997.
Lotteries Associated with Increased Crime Rate
A study of criminal statistics in all 50 states published in 1990 by professors John Mikesell and Maureen A. Pirog-Good of Indiana University noted that the "adoption of a state lottery is associated with a three percent increase in the state crime rate." This increase is the equivalent of 5,478 additional property crimes per year in each state with a lottery.
John Mikesell and Maureen A. Pirog-Good, "State Lotteries and Crime: The regressive revenue producer is linked with a crime rate higher by 3 percent," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, January 1990, as cited by Sandeep Managalmurti and Robert Cook, p. 13.
Lottery Companies Manipulate the Public
A variety of marketing methods are used by the lottery, including identifying likely players, compiling extensive socioeconomic profiles, conducting focus group research, test-marketing new products, and so forth. Few avenues are left untouched: the Colorado state lottery reportedly "spent $25,000 for a study called Mindsort to analyze the left and right sides of the brain to understand how to manipulate player behavior."
Ann Carnahan, "Lottery analyzing players' brains," Rocky Mountain News, [Denver, CO.], July 8, 1997, p. 5A.
Lotteries Not Subject to Truth In Advertising Rules
Because they are state entities, lotteries are exempt from Federal Trade Commission truth-in-advertising standards and rules, and can in fact operate in a manner that true commercial businesses cannot.
Ellen Perlman, "Lotto's little luxuries," Governing, December 1996, p.18.
Lottery Advertising Sells False Promises
A lottery advertisement in New York showed a mother teasing a daughter for studying for a scholarship. After all, Mom had already bought a lottery ticket to solve their financial problems.
An advertisement in Illinois even showed a gentleman mocking those who invest their money in stocks and bonds; he prefers to put it into the lottery.
Neal Peirce, "Lotteries are getting serious and crazy," The Plain Dealer [Cleveland, Ohio], May 9, 1989.
Several years ago, a lottery billboard went up on a street in a low-income neighborhood in Chicago that read, "How to get from Washington Street to Easy Street — Play the Illinois Lottery."
"General Assembly to grapple with issue of lottery advertising," The Sun News, (Myrtle Beach SC) Monday, December 18, 2000
Lottery Advertising Crosses the Line
Kansas Lottery officials were forced to apologize for an ad filled with sexual innuendo and racial stereotypes. The Lawrence Journal-World reported, "The radio commercial features a man's voice promoting a new scratch-ticket game called 'Caribbean Stud,' a takeoff on a poker hand. The man, who calls himself Enrique 'the true Caribbean Stud,' a reference to his sexual prowess, asks the listener to consider whether the new game has 'bulging pectoral muscles like Enrique?' and 'does it make women all giddy with its God-like bronzed skin?' Answering his own questions, the man, speaking with a Spanish accent, says, 'I do not think so. I would like to see this lottery game slip into leopard-skin bikini briefs and look as fabulous as Enrique Phillipe San Jussepi.' Testifying before the Senate budget committee, [Kansas] lottery director Ed Van Petten said he was unaware of the advertisement's sexual overtones."
Dave Ranney, "Lottery ad, Web site enrage senators," Lawrence Journal-World, [Lawrence, KS.], January 24, 2001.
The lottery is an anathema to healthy family life. Compulsive gambling is associated with self-destructive behavior such as drug use, violence, teen suicide, spouse abuse, homelessness, crime, and child abuse. The lottery companies, in an ever-spiraling cycle of seductive new games and more advertising often cross both the boundaries of fairness and good taste by targeting the poor and seniors in efforts to get people to spend more money on their losing propositions.
Fixed Income Seniors Targeted By Lottery Companies
At least one state lottery has tried to publicly target the senior market. With ticket sales to senior citizens in decline since 1990, the Maryland Lottery targeted seniors in 1993 with a "Lottery on Wheels," a mobile game-playing machine that visited convalescent homes and shopping malls where seniors walked for exercise. Ticket sales to seniors jumped from 21 percent of total sales in 1993 to 24 percent in 1994 and 1995. After the State Attorney General initiated an investigation, the practice was ended in Maryland.
Laura Sullivan, "Lottery goes for the gray," Baltimore Sun, August 8, 1997.; Howard Libit, "Lottery ends game aimed at the elderly," Baltimore Sun, August 19, 1997.
Seniors Can be Devastated by Gambling Losses
The spread of legalized gambling across the nation has also led to an increase in the number of senior citizens facing financial ruin because of problem gambling. Seniors face a bigger problem because many live on fixed incomes and often are financially crushed by the time they seek help.
Robert Sargent, "Gaming industry finding retirees are good bet," Orlando Sentinel, February 9, 1998.
Homelessness Associated with Gambling Addiction
In a random survey of more than 1,100 persons in 26 Rescue Mission shelters in early 1998, 18 percent — almost one-fifth cited gambling as a reason for their homelessness. Eighty-six percent said they used to play, or still played, the lottery, compared to 34 percent who gambled at casinos and 25 percent who bet on horse and dog races. Only 23 percent continued to gamble once they became homeless, yet that number rose to 37 percent after they began to pull their lives back together.
Phil Rydman, "Nationwide survey: Nearly one in five at missions say gambling a factor in their homelessness," press release by the International Union of Gospel Missions, March 13, 1998.
Suicide Associated with Compulsive Gambling
The National Council on Problem Gambling found that approximately one in five pathological gamblers attempts suicide. Similar studies of compulsive gamblers in New Jersey, Wisconsin and Illinois report that 18 percent of compulsive gamblers in those states have attempted suicide.
National Council on Problem Gambling, Problem and Pathological Gambling in America: The National Picture, January 1997, pp.14-15. Gerald Shields, "Commission looks at social odds of gambling," Sun-Herald (Louisiana), July 24, 1997.
Spouse Abuse Associated with Gambling
Almost 20 percent of spouse abuse cases involve domestic disputes related to gambling.
Larry Braidfoot, Gambling: A Deadly Game (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1985), p. 156.
Gambling Industry Admits Lottery is Addictive
Of the 38 lotteries around the country, 35 print warning messages on tickets or in brochures stating that gambling can be addictive.
Loretta Tofani, "Pa. Lottery tickets to bear warning on risks of gambling," Philadelphia Inquirer, September 12, 1997.
Lotteries Associated with Increased Crime Rate
A study of criminal statistics in all 50 states published in 1990 by professors John Mikesell and Maureen A. Pirog-Good of Indiana University noted that the "adoption of a state lottery is associated with a three percent increase in the state crime rate." This increase is the equivalent of 5,478 additional property crimes per year in each state with a lottery.
John Mikesell and Maureen A. Pirog-Good, "State Lotteries and Crime: The regressive revenue producer is linked with a crime rate higher by 3 percent," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, January 1990, as cited by Sandeep Managalmurti and Robert Cook, p. 13.
Lottery Companies Manipulate the Public
A variety of marketing methods are used by the lottery, including identifying likely players, compiling extensive socioeconomic profiles, conducting focus group research, test-marketing new products, and so forth. Few avenues are left untouched: the Colorado state lottery reportedly "spent $25,000 for a study called Mindsort to analyze the left and right sides of the brain to understand how to manipulate player behavior."
Ann Carnahan, "Lottery analyzing players' brains," Rocky Mountain News, [Denver, CO.], July 8, 1997, p. 5A.
Lotteries Not Subject to Truth In Advertising Rules
Because they are state entities, lotteries are exempt from Federal Trade Commission truth-in-advertising standards and rules, and can in fact operate in a manner that true commercial businesses cannot.
Ellen Perlman, "Lotto's little luxuries," Governing, December 1996, p.18.
Lottery Advertising Sells False Promises
A lottery advertisement in New York showed a mother teasing a daughter for studying for a scholarship. After all, Mom had already bought a lottery ticket to solve their financial problems.
An advertisement in Illinois even showed a gentleman mocking those who invest their money in stocks and bonds; he prefers to put it into the lottery.
Neal Peirce, "Lotteries are getting serious and crazy," The Plain Dealer [Cleveland, Ohio], May 9, 1989.
Several years ago, a lottery billboard went up on a street in a low-income neighborhood in Chicago that read, "How to get from Washington Street to Easy Street — Play the Illinois Lottery."
"General Assembly to grapple with issue of lottery advertising," The Sun News, (Myrtle Beach SC) Monday, December 18, 2000
Lottery Advertising Crosses the Line
Kansas Lottery officials were forced to apologize for an ad filled with sexual innuendo and racial stereotypes. The Lawrence Journal-World reported, "The radio commercial features a man's voice promoting a new scratch-ticket game called 'Caribbean Stud,' a takeoff on a poker hand. The man, who calls himself Enrique 'the true Caribbean Stud,' a reference to his sexual prowess, asks the listener to consider whether the new game has 'bulging pectoral muscles like Enrique?' and 'does it make women all giddy with its God-like bronzed skin?' Answering his own questions, the man, speaking with a Spanish accent, says, 'I do not think so. I would like to see this lottery game slip into leopard-skin bikini briefs and look as fabulous as Enrique Phillipe San Jussepi.' Testifying before the Senate budget committee, [Kansas] lottery director Ed Van Petten said he was unaware of the advertisement's sexual overtones."
Dave Ranney, "Lottery ad, Web site enrage senators," Lawrence Journal-World, [Lawrence, KS.], January 24, 2001.
