Why are there no casinos in Hawaii?

[Bob Orts]

State Lotteries are not forced on people, taxes are. Comparing taxes to lotteries is like comparing a PTA cake drive to taxes. Washington conducted a study that showed that the majority of players are upper middle class, the lowest was the poor (Note: the poor were more likely to engage in illegal gambling versus State sponsored gambling). The average poor to middle class played a dollar or two a week while the upper middle class to mildly rich played +$10 a week. His was mirrored by both government sponsored studies and independent consumer advocacy studies

Vendors derive income from sales contributing to local municipal/county economy. The overhead for state lotteries are fully funded from sales with no government funds involved. All promotions, advertising, operating and administrative cost must be derived from revenue.

Lotteries are earmarked funding which mean the money collected are designed to fund specific services, normally designated for education, cultural, environmental etc., not general services or projects. Lotteries have a legal requirement that wining funds not cashed in also goes towards the earmark. So any unclaimed prizes revert to the earmarked fund.

The only issue is if this funding is truly excess and not in-lieu-of. So is funding for the earmark reduced by anticipated lottery revenue or is it on top of regular funding? Most states had established benchmark funding from the general fund and lottery revenue was on top of that but that would be a question the citizens need to look closely at.

[Greg]

I volunteer to administer the lottery for Hawaii. I'll give the schools 80% of all profits. Here's the per dollar breakdown:

After the administrative cost of 80 cents is deducted the profits (20cents) will be divided with me getting 04 cents and the schools getting 16 cents. []

[HiloHaole]

quote:

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Originally posted by Bob Orts

Washington conducted a study that showed that the majority of players are upper middle class, the lowest was the poor.

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A few years ago, the average annual income for a Georgia lottery player was $17,500. It's the lower income people that are looking for a get-rich-fast method. My observations are that convenience stores are the destination for a "pack of cigarettes & some lottery tickets."

[JerryCarr]

Thank you, HiloHaole. As a 20-year resident of Georgia, I saw the same report on the income of lottery players.

Damon, my best suggestion for a better way, particularly in reference to education programs in Hawaii is to reduce the bloated bureaucracy by reforming the administrative structure. If you look at some of the posts on Punaweb and hunterbishop.com, you will see people with more first-hand experience than me with the same suggestion. Beyond that, some (but certainly not all) private charities have ratios of expenses to revenues that are quite low. I will try to find some comparisons of those ratios to the State of Hawaii and post them. Should be interesting.

Cheers,
Jerry

[EightFingers]

A lottery is a tax on the mathematically impaired. LOL

[Devany]

I have to say, when I lived in IL the community colleges did profit from the gambling boats, but they really attracted unsavory people and took advantage of the poor and the "stupid" who actually ended up losing their homes and much more because they believed somehow that they could win a jackpot.

Aloha au i Hawai`i,
devany

Devany Vickery-Davidson
East Bay Potters
www.eastbaypotters.com

[David M]

Just a theory... but I suspect those with an income of 17,500 were more likely to be receiving a check from the irs rather than writing one, so maybe they were just redistributing their redistributed gains in hopes of more gains?

I'm not inclined to see real gambling here, but I would buy a lottery ticket from time to time. I probably contributed an average $25/yr when I lived in Ga.

David

Ninole Resident

[Sean]

Eightfingers has it right, but I still buy a ticket, or rather did buy a ticket, every now and then.

As for lottery's helping schools, well I'm not sure they really do. In California prior to the lottery the State was funding schools, when the lottery provided a new source of income the State didn't have to contribute as much. At least in California it seems to be that way and budget cuts are looming.



See you in the surf

[kimo wires]

My sister's ex (nice guy) played the pick six in georgia,
same numbers everyday for nine years. He finally hit and won 80K one day.
We all joked that he just broke even. He still plays the same numbers... says he's going to be the only person ever to hit it twice .