Wray wants state to bet on lottery


State Rep. Michael Wray announced in his weekly e-mail update to constituents Friday that he will vote to support an education-dedicated lottery when the House takes up the issue this month.

“Raising taxes to pay for education or other programs must be a last option, so I believe that the time has come to create a lottery in North Carolina,” Wray wrote in the e-mail message. “I have never been a strong supporter of the lottery, but North Carolinians are already playing the lottery in Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee and are sending more than $300 million each year to these states to pay for the education of their children. We must keep that money in North Carolina for our own children and their education, which is why I believe that legislators must do what it takes to keep this money here at home.”

Wray, a freshman Democrat from Northampton County, represents northern Vance County, along with Warren and Northampton.

The House long has been the stumbling block for a North Carolina lottery, which has won passage in the Senate in past years. Vance County’s new state senator, Democrat Doug Berger of Franklin County, made support of a lottery one of his campaign issues.

House Speaker Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg, has promised a floor vote on a lottery bill as early as this week. A special 16-member House committee is working on the legislation.

In his e-mail, Wray said that because the General Assembly is facing a budget shortfall of more than $1.2 billion in the upcoming year, “legislators will either have to increase or find new revenue sources to help fund education in our state.”

He said lottery proceeds should be dedicated to providing additional money for education, not replacing what is already spent and not paying for advertising to lure people into believing they have a better chance of winning.

One possibility if a lottery passes is to devote the money to school construction needs that top $6 billion statewide. Vance County is looking for ways to finance $28.1 million in facilities.

“The lottery better be earmarked for bricks and mortar,” Vance Schools Superintendent Norm Shearin said in a recent interview. “The only lottery that I feel comfortable with is Georgia, and they’re having some problems with theirs.” He said the half of the Georgia lottery dedicated to school construction works, but the half directed to college scholarships is struggling.

North Carolina is the only state on the East Coast and one of 10 in the nation without a lottery.

But Shearin is leery after seeing Florida roll out a lottery while he worked there. He said Florida dedicated the lottery money to education but just used the lottery revenues to replace other funds. The result, Shearin said, is that education fell from 61 percent of the Florida budget to 57 percent.

Lottery opponents see the game as a way to exploit the poor and less educated, who are more likely to play, and say the experience of other states indicates that revenues will decline after the novelty wears off.

Supporters see the lottery as a way to raise money in a voluntary way and say North Carolinians already are playing, just in other states.

Polls show that North Carolinians favor a lottery. Wray cited an Elon University poll from February, which found that 69 percent in the state supported the creation of a lottery and that 37 percent had purchased a lottery ticket in a neighboring state in the previous 12 months.

“Some critics of the lottery say that gambling is a sin,” Wray wrote. “Well, I am not an advocate of gambling, but I believe that not providing our children with the best possible education in safe schools and not in cramped trailers is a much bigger sin.”