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"If they don't have a green card or foreign passport, they're not going to get anything," lottery spokeswoman Pam Walker said. "Because they're likely to be an illegal alien." Raleigh, NC -- Illegal immigrants in North Carolina can play the state's new lottery, but they may not be allowed to collect large winnings under the game's claim policies. Lottery rules require winners of $600 or more to show a photo identification and proof of a Social Security number to claim their prizes. In the absence of a Social Security number, the lottery will accept a US passport, a foreign passport,...

KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. --North Carolina retailers raked in an estimated $10 million Thursday, the first day of the state lottery. But that doesn't sway Robert Arey, who has no desire to sell the tickets at the 15 convenience stores he owns in the Charlotte region. "You work for what you get," said Arey, who runs the One Stop Food Stores. "You don't win it." Arey said he is morally opposed to the lottery, which he calls a "poor tax," and he doesn't expect his decision to cost him money. In fact, he said, his stores in South Carolina actually saw...

RALEIGH – It is still the spitting image of a pig. They tried all day to doll it up as something else. They smeared its snout with ruby-red lipstick. They tried on a silky white dress, then a blue satin one. They pushed it up on its hind legs and attempted to induce a shimmy. All to no avail. You can’t put lipstick on a pig and transform it into a debutante. It remains a swine. As do, if you’ll pardon the stretched metaphor, both the events of Tuesday and their perpetrators. By a 25-24 vote, the North Carolina Senate...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- North Carolina is no longer the only state along the East Coast that does not have a lottery. Senators passed the measure Tuesday by one vote. Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, D-Cumberland, brought up the bill for consideration about 1:15 p.m. Senate leader Marc Basnight told WRAL he called senators back to Raleigh because he thought the votes were there to pass a lottery.

RALEIGH, NC -- Though House Speaker Jim Black warned the N.C. Senate this week not to tinker with a bill to start a state lottery that the House barely passed, don't bet on it. "This is not Nebraska," said Sen. Tony Rand, the Senate majority leader, referring to the state whose legislature has one house, rather than two. "Making sausage, everybody has to put a little in there," said Rand, D-Cumberland. "The sausage machine is not exclusively the province of one house." (snip) "They'd better pass what we send over there," he said. "Because when it comes back to us...

RALEIGH - House Speaker Jim Black said he wants lawmakers to vote on a state lottery in the next two weeks, and he virtually guaranteed Wednesday that the proposal would reach his chamber's floor. A state numbers game, a regular winner in the Senate that typically dies in the House, could fail in a House committee -- in theory. But Black, D-Mecklenburg, said the education lottery plan he and Gov. Mike Easley are pushing would be heard by a special committee. Black, a lottery supporter, will appoint the committee's members. (snip) But those on both sides say the plan doesn't...

ROANOKE RAPIDS, NC - Since February, the Roanoke Rapids School Board has been talking about endorsing a state-operated lottery for education. The Board will be meeting this Tuesday, April 20 at 8:00 p.m. and this matter is on the agenda. It is imperative School Board members be inundated with contacts via telephone calls and emails beforehand. As many people as possible should also attend the meeting to express their opposition to such an endorsement. Here are a few good talking points that express reasons why a state- operated lottery would not help education in North Carolina: States without lotteries actually...

RALEIGH -- Gov. Mike Easley is using a lawsuit over the state's education system to prod the General Assembly into expanding his academic programs and passing a government-run lottery. Easley sent letters to legislators Monday urging them to adopt a fiscal 2002-03 budget for North Carolina that puts more money toward smaller primary-grade classes and a nascent prekindergarten initiative called More At Four. As usual, he said a game of chance could pay the additional cost. "Now is the time for all legislators to focus on leadership and to put our children's future ahead of old partisan rivalries," wrote the...