When the Texas Lottery was proposed in 1991, Texans were told proceeds would go to public education; that wasn’t true, of course — the money just went into went to general spending. Twenty years later, two big groups are calling for the Lottery to be shutdown: the NAACP and the GOP.
At their convention in early June, Republicans inserted new language in their platform encouraging legislators to “repeal of the Texas State lottery.”
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports the Dallas chapter of the NAACP voted unanimously to urge the lottery’s elimination. According to the news report:
Members of the nation’s oldest civil rights group say they are frustrated by poor and minority Texans spending their money on tickets, rather than necessities such as rent or health insurance, and they believe the lottery isn’t putting enough money into public education in the state.
After public outcry, the legislature finally made good on their sales pitch by statutorily dedicating lottery earnings to public education. Yet the Austin American Statesman reported in 2010 that lottery proceeds “barely cover three days” of school operations.
