Skip to comments.
Pennsylvania to Join Powerball Multi-State Lottery Next Summer
Associated Press
| Dec 19, 2001
| Martha Raffaele
Posted on 12/19/2001 5:09:53 AM PST by Christian B
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania will join the Powerball multistate lottery next summer in an effort to boost state lottery revenues that help subsidize senior citizen programs.
Gov. Mark Schweiker, who made the announcement Tuesday, said current revenues can fully subsidize those programs, but the projected costs are expected to surpass future ticket revenues, leaving the lottery with a more than $187 million deficit by July 2003.
"We have some concerns about the solvency of the program," Schweiker said.
Lottery officials estimate that Powerball will boost annual revenues by about $60 million, $35 million of which would be set aside for senior citizen programs.
Nearly 40 percent of Pennsylvania Lottery revenues fund programs for seniors, including two drug assistance programs, reduced public-transportation rates, and property tax and rent rebates.
Pennsylvania will become the 23rd state to offer Powerball; the closest states that currently have the game are Delaware and West Virginia. Neighboring New Jersey began offering the Big Game, another multistate lottery, in 1999.
"We've looked at those counties with easy access to the multistate lotteries, and we saw that when the jackpots got really big, a lot of people would cross over," Pennsylvania Lottery spokeswoman Sally Danyluk said.
TOPICS: Announcements; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS:
Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one who minds state-sponsered gambling. Where are the liberal activists to say that this is simply a tax on the lower middle class? And where are the conservative activists decrying gambling as being immoral?
To: Christian B
If PA has a lottery expected to run in the red within a couple years, then they should be doing away with it, not expanding.
2
posted on
12/19/2001 5:14:34 AM PST
by
JohnGalt
To: JohnGalt
West Virginia is going to be crying in their soup. All the Powerball outlets in the northern panhandle are going to shrivel up and go away, because all the Pennsylnanians won't be driving into WV to buy their tickets.
Maybe Robert Byrd can threaten to cut off some road funding if PA decides to go ahead with this plan.
To: Christian B
Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one who minds state-sponsered gambling. Where are the liberal activists to say that this is simply a tax on the lower middle class? And where are the conservative activists decrying gambling as being immoral?
I don't believe that the government should be telling its citizens how and how not to waste their money. I also don't see lotteries as a tax on the "lower middle class" -- I see it as a tax on people who can't do math. After all, lower-middle class people who don't buy lottery tickets aren't paying the "tax" yet they are subject to no penalty.
4
posted on
12/19/2001 5:25:23 AM PST
by
Dimensio
To: Dimensio
What about the moral aspect of it all?
To: Christian B
Yee-Haw! Now Pennsylvanians will be contributing to my "retirement plan"! LOL!
To: Christian B
What about the moral aspect of it all?
Had I not been posting so early in the morning before coffee, I would have also commented that I do not like the idea of the state government encouraging citizens throwing their money away by promising millions of dollars to one lucky person who can beat millions-to-one odds.
As for private gambling ventures, I think that they should be required to clearly show all winning odds, but apart from that the government should not interfere with those willing to toss away their incomes on useless ventures -- after all, no one stepped in to prevent the dot-com revolution.
7
posted on
12/19/2001 5:41:21 AM PST
by
Dimensio
To: Christian B
I don't see gambling as any more or any less immoral than alcohol, but it is not to be encouraged & it is easily abused.
I'd like to see the comparsions between "total revenue earned from lottery" and "increase in welfare or addiction treatment spending" since state sponsored lotteries were introduced.
8
posted on
12/19/2001 5:54:28 AM PST
by
Nataku X
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson