Buying scratch-off lottery tickets might not be the best use of a person’s cash, but since there’s little chance that everyone is going to cease playing their lucky numbers, many states are smartly dedicating a portion of money earned from lottery proceeds to vital programs.
In Colorado, for example, the state lottery funds bike and hiking trail maintenance, parks and recreation construction and maintenance, wilderness education for kids and more. New Jersey’s lottery benefits a variety of schools and education programs. And Missouri legislators recently proposed that lottery funds be dedicated to helping veterans.
Missouri State Representative Sheila Solon decided to sponsor the amendment when she learned that the state’s Veterans Commission was operating at a loss. “The lottery ticket would be one way that we could cover shortfalls for our veterans homes, to help with the upkeep of our veterans’ cemeteries, and also to restore full funding for the outreach programs which are so important for our veterans,” Solon told Linda Ong of Ozarks First.
The amendment proposed that those playing the game of risk be given the option to buy a special veterans ticket, which would generate funds for the Veterans Commission Capital Improvement Fund. Currently, lottery funds benefit education in the state.
Ong spoke with one local veteran, John Dismer, who disagreed with the idea. “It’s going to take away from education, because there’s only so many dollars in the lottery system, so you’re going to take some of it away. Now if the education system was real fat and everything, that might be alright. But I don’t think it is.”
In a close vote, many Missouri voters agreed with him — on August 6, 55 percent of voters rejected the amendment.
But this probably isn’t the last we’ll hear of this funding idea. After all, since 2006, a veterans lottery ticket in Illinois has generated $11,000,000 for that state’s former service members.
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Tag: Gambling
How Florida’s Gambling Crackdown Led to a Boon for Veterans
An April 2013 law cracking down on illegal betting in Florida shut down hundreds of Internet cafes and arcades, and sent the state’s gamblers looking for a new fix, which many of them found in bingo halls. Unexpectedly, that trend has helped Florida veterans organizations to the tune of $90,000.
Bingoland in Bradenton, Fla. has long welcomed volunteers from veterans organizations to staff their bingo halls, and in turn these organizations receive donations. In the past, the donations have amounted to about $300 a month, Pete Killingsworth, president of Bingoland told Vin Mannix of the Bradenton Herald. But because so many people are playing bingo these days, the figures have shot up: In January Bingoland divided $90,000 between three different veterans’ organizations: $15,000 to Korean War Veterans, $45,000 to Palmetto VFW Post 2488, and $30,000 to Bradenton VFW 10140.
Mike Clinesmith, Quartermaster of VFW Post 10140, told Mannix, “We’ll put it in our relief fund, which goes to help veterans of Manatee County. We’ve got a bunch coming back now with disabilities, homeless veterans, and we have a certain amount we can give to each one. This will go a long way to helping them.” Sounds like a winning wager to us.
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