Finished with in an an under an hour with half an hour left. Woot.
Linh Dieu Lam
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Grade 12 Hour 1
Gambling is Not an Effective Way to Raise State Revenue
Stress if a part of life, how an individual deals with it is something different. Another topic that stresses young individuals is education. Whether it is because classes are difficult or there are not enough resources to fund the class. In lotteries, a percentage of the money collected goes to education. It sounds like a good deal for both the gambler and schools but it is not what it makes out to be. Lotteries are not an effective way of raising revenue for education but should not be outlawed. Schools do not benefit from the lottery revenues as some may think, rather gambling is a way for the individual to seek pleasure.
The revenue from lotteries do not expand districts’ fund. Some people think “with lottery money flowing to education” the schools funds would have increased significantly but what they do not realize is that often times “state legislatures have used the lottery receipts as an excuse to cut normal budget allotments to education” (Source D). The general public does not know exactly how much money is contributed to education, especially comparing to their budget, misleading them to believe that the districts have ample amount of money to their disposal. Another reason why the schools do not have as much money as some thought is because the money that it would have gotten from the budget is taken away and used in another area since the districts got money from the lottery. To put it short and sweet, they still get the same amount of money if not less. In the 1990-1991 school year, the lottery revenue was “$691.2 million” split between elementary and secondary schools but that “sum was only about 8.4 percent of a 7.9 billion public education budget.” (Source D). People do not realize the amount of money from the lottery revenues are almost to nothing compared to the public education budget. Some believe that the lottery revenue that goes to education is enough to supplement that they should not have to pay school taxes. People do not realize the unfairness in that system if it were to be established. ”Eighty-two percent of lottery bets are made by just 20 percent of players – this group disproportionately poor, black, and uneducated” (Source B). The people who would be voluntarily paying the school taxes are those who are already struggling to make ends meet. It is the people in the lower classes looking for a chance to change their fortune and they turn to the lotteries. They are also not aware that only “31 cents of a dollar goes to education” (Source H). The main justification for gambling is that it contributes to education in exchange for a shred of luck at a new life.
Seeking pleasure is the key reason for gambling. Gambling is seen as adult entertainment. If the individual “wins, he has in some way controlled his world; if he loses, it is simply a tough break” (Source C). Gambling, a wheel of fortune that spins for whoever wants to participate, takes a toll on the people’s pockets after a while. In moderation, it can be a way to let out stress and be a sliver chance for a positive change. Through gambling, the person is able to “blow off steam without having an accident, absenting himself from work, or resorting to industrial sabotage” (Source C). Instead of taking rage out physically, he is able to escape his concerns for a moment by playing a game of win or lose bets. In a way it is better to lose a couple of bucks than to lose a person forever due to a moment’s impulse. As long as “the industry [is kept] crime free” there should not be “any cultural danger” (Source A). Keeping the adult entertainment clean, and not having the addiction, drugs, and alcohol seen in cliché movies, everything should be adequate if done in moderation. The money invested into the false dream of striking it rich should be kept in check as well, to avoid addiction and too much of an investment loss.
Gambling and playing the lottery is acceptable since it gives participants a false sense of authority and a glimmer of hope but it is not an effective way to raise state revenues for education. Not only would it be unfair to the poor since they are the ones chasing the dream of a better tomorrow, but it would also contribute to a gambling addiction if not enough revenue is collected because in a sense the participants would be increasing their chances at winning and adding to the state revenue for education. Education’s funds get their corners cut when people start thinking that the educational system has liberal amounts of resources.
