Floor Leader John J. Diehl, Jr. Proposes Putting State Lottery Back On The Ballot; Calls Games ‘Dishonest Way To Fund Public Education’
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri state Rep. John Diehl, R-Town & Country, Wednesday proposed having voters statewide decide whether Missouri should continue to have a state lottery or whether its 30-year run should come to an end.
“We aren’t being honest with Missourians when we make them believe the lottery funds education. It does not,” Diehl said. “Missourians need to revisit the issue and answer some tough questions. Is the lottery an honest way to fund education? Should the state be in the gambling business? Who does the lottery really benefit and who does it hurt?”
Diehl cited recent reports of declining lottery funds going to education, increased lottery advertising spending, and bloated travel and other administrative costs. Reports suggest the contribution to state education has fallen from $299 million to a projected $278 million per year, and the numbers continue to fall. Only 24.5 cents of every lottery dollar goes to public education in the state—or approximately 4% of the total Missouri public education budget. Nearly $110 million of the lottery’s budget is spent on administrative costs and incentives to retailers.
Advertising for the lottery has been budgeted for $16 million to get people to gamble.
“We need to revisit whether we should be doing this at all,” Diehl said. “We aren’t ‘playing it forward’ as the ads say. We are ‘paying it backwards.’”
Diehl said we should consider placing the referendum on the 2016 ballot. Missourians authorized the lottery in 1984, an experiment that is now 30 years old. Diehl said, like all state programs, the time is now to re-evaluate whether this is what is best for the state. He noted his legislation would prohibit the lottery from using its funds for advertising in favor of maintaining itself or “self-image” advertising promoting its “benefits.”
“The governor recently said it’s time to ‘take a fresh look’ at the lottery and appointed five new lottery commissioners,” he said. “This is like shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. We don’t need to tweak the lottery. We need to look at how people are being misled about the lottery and not addressing the fundamental cost of public education and the government’s role in promoting gambling, often to those who can least afford it.”
“Does anybody believe five new commissioners will put on the table a scenario where the lottery goes away and puts themselves out of a job?,” he said. “We need to stop wallpapering over the tough decisions.”
“We keep trying to squeeze more money out of the lottery—which often comes from the pockets of those with the lowest incomes—instead of being honest with Missourians that the cost of public education is high, we must address it directly and stop using ‘get rich quick’ gimmicks to make us feel better about it.”
Diehl contends times have changed and Missourians do not believe the lottery is a salvation for education. “All the feel good propaganda aside, the people I speak with everyday know this is a shell game and will never solve the underlying failure of the state to confront education funding head on.”
“If we have to replace the funds the lottery now provides education, so be it,” he said. “That’s our job as legislators and the administration to make education a top priority and redirect revenue for that purpose. It’s time to be honest with Missouri taxpayers and tell them education is not a game.”
“No one is proud of the fact we stand by and induce those who can afford it least to gamble on the lottery and tell them it’s all for the children,” Diehl said. “This really is passing the buck.”
Diehl believes most of the money gambled on the lottery will be spent in restaurants, stores and other forms of entertainment.
He vowed not to let a possible rejection of the lottery affect the quality of public education and teachers jobs within the state. Diehl said he believes the General Assembly will fund public education through general revenue as it should be.
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