Georgia Lottery Opposes Online Gambling Ban
The online gambling situation keeps drawing a dividing line right down the middle of the country, and the latest to come out in support of online gambling is the Georgia Lottery.
Though Georgia Governor Nathan Deal was looking for the support of Sheldon Adelson, his administration has been doing something else. They’ve been quietly lobbying against the federal legislation that would restrict online gambling.
The people at the Georgia Lottery were upset for a different reason, though.
The Georgia Lottery was one of the first state lotteries in the nation to bring ticket sales to the Internet. By doing so, they generated an additional $6.6 million on top of other sales. They sent a little more than 30% of those sales to fund pre-kindergarten and HOPE scholarship programs. If online gambling were to be banned, the effects would be felt far and wide.
The head of the Georgia state lottery, Debbie Dlugolenski Alford, penned a letter in April to a top U.S. House attorney. In the letter, she stated that the proposal would put an end to their online division, which is critical to their success and funds education.
Lottery officials went ahead and ran the numbers, and it’s not pretty. Should online gambling be banned, the losses would total up to $39 million. This translates into 7,000 HOPE scholarships gone, as well as 11,000 pre-kindergarten students.
Sheldon Adelson needs to take a step back and think about this for a second. He’s not just fighting online gaming websites with their no deposit bonus promotions. He’s not just wanting that money to stop funding states. By moving forward, he’s essentially saying that he’s okay with destroying scholarships and the education of young children. His little grudge is destroying the future of this country.
This makes Nathan’s courting attempts all the more troubling. Nathan, a Republican, wants Adelson’s support, while almost literally the entire state of Georgia doesn’t. They know that Adelson’s support would destroy all the good that they’ve done, and they don’t want to go that route.
Governor Nathan Deal hasn’t commented on whether he’s met with Adelson or not, but he did make the following comment in Las Vegas:
“Politics requires a large sum of money nowadays to be successful, and it’s nice to have people like Sheldon who are willing to support causes they believe in.”
Sure, the world functions on money, and Adelson has an almost endless pocket, but at what cost? Is jeopardizing the future of children in your state really worth it? Should we just go ahead and cut textbook funding too? Let’s slash our educational technology budget too, no classroom should need a computer!
Seriously, where does this end? If you need me, I’ll be in the corner, weeping for our future.