Editor-In-Chief
AUSTIN, Texas - When giddy state officials first announced plans for a Texas lottery, they crowed not about the odds of winning or losing, but about how it would save public education in the Lone Star State. A huge percentage of the revenue was to be devoted to funneling money from sales receipts to the state's General Revenue Fund, and then, of course, onto the budgets of every school district from Brownsville to Dalhart, and from Texarkana to El Paso.
Well, no one is talking about any lottery money as the state sinks in its $27 billion budget deficit and public education is facing a staggering loss of $5 billion in operating funds for the coming schoolyear.
The Lottery is still there, at your gas station, at the grocery store, at convenience stores and pretty much every other place where the gambler might stick his head. There's the Lotto and the Mega Millions twice-a-week games and the litany of rub-outs offering quick riches.
Has it helped the state? Has the lottery generated big dollars for schools?
We searched for info and this is what we got, from the Texas Lottery Commission: The Texas Lottery has generated well over $18 billion for the state of Texas since the first ticket was sold in 1992. Prior to 1997, the proceeds were allocated to the General Revenue Fund. Since 1997, all Texas Lottery proceeds have been transferred to the Foundation School Fund to support public education. The Texas Lottery has contributed more than $13 billion to the Foundation School Fund, and of that total, $1 billion was contributed in fiscal year 2010.
Well, at first glance that sounds like good news. But where does the money go? Schools get some, yes. Well, here is a chart showing the breakdown of Lottery earnings and how that is shared:
Okay, so where did the dream go? What happened to the jillions public education was going to draw from Texas having a lottery? Eighteen billion for schools since 1992 is not even a billion a year, which, ironically is the annual budget of the Dallas Independent School District. That leaves a whole lot of other school districts wishing for a piece of the pie. It's true that those are figures for 2010, but is it any better so far this year?
We would bet not.
Playing the lottery is gambling and there is a sector of the state population that does not believe in gambling. Perhaps that is part of the problem. Maybe a better-promoted lottery would generate more cash. It's hard to know when the effort is no more excitable than it was when it began in almost 20 years ago. Yes, there were the scandal years of the 1990s, when reports surfaced that the bidding for the gaming company overseeing the lottery - GTECH - had been rigged, back when a woman named Harriet Miers served as director of the Texas Lottery Commission. Harriet Miers went on to serve in George W. Bush's White House, and he even nominated her for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. The scandals died, but the Lotto never did come close to bringing in the sort of money its proponents envisioned.
That was yesteryear. Perhaps the entire operation should be looked at a bit deeper in these trying times.Texas is deep in the hole. Legislators are said to be looking at everything in an effort to find more dollars, looking at things like raising fees at every state agency, from the driver's license office to admissions at the state parks.
The Lottery was once seen as a potential bonanza, a popular, addictive game that would bring in loads of cash every day. Truckloads. Armored cars pulling in all day. Big bucks for construction of new schools, for the hiring of more and more teachers, for better libraries, for better athletic programs, for newer, modern classrooms, for the best of everything.
It never happened that way...
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28 comments:
I Play it as much as I can. what can I say. Thought it was more going to schools, tho.
I play the lottery every Saturday, and occassionally buy a scratch off. I have noticed not too many people win from South Texas lately.
No pun intended, but I thought that feral hog, looks like someone who runs a rag line blog, from San Benito, or Harlingen, not sure.
I buy $5.00 every Saturday, quick picks and don't even come close. Sometimes I think the lotto is rigged so that no one wins.
So is it possible that if gambling is allowed in Texas, it might become as ineffective as the lottery.
Goverment programs usually become too beaurocratic.
I believe that getting a lot of Free Foods Stamps from our Socialist / Communist Government is much better that paying for a scratch - off or any Lotto ticket !!!
once again an exellent editorial on the Note From The Editor. it's what all of us think of chapaneco. He gets up in the morning just to throw crap at everybody. Who cares about that dwarf! LOL!!!
chapaneco is again attacking The Tribune. He has nothing left. Chapa's new nickname: Tony "El Jediondo" Chapa. He smells all the way across town!
the Dwarf Chapaneco: El Encuerado
ALL:...Let's not get carried away with nicknames for Antonio Chapa. He has a horrible life as it is. We all know it's the last refuge of a loser when he starts calling others names. That's where he is today, losing it all again. The only reason he keeps going is because he is home alone, has no car and no friends in town. Maybe he should walk over to the Maryland Apartments and talk to the shadows. He might find a REAL story there. We'll just let the short one rage at home and beat his keyboard all day long. He's a prisoner of his own uneducated brain, and that's enough for us... - Editor
why are we still talking about chapete? His blog died weeks ago. he's like the cow who sees its calf has died and it still licks at its face. Chapaneco es una chinche, a bloodsucker.
I read Chapa-perro's blog, 10 comments, 5 from him. All the other so called stories, he post them then responds.
At go loser, it bothers you, the Trib is posting 43 comments, and your blog gets leftovers.
Mr. Editor, saw the game last night, man, I thought the other team was going to play better. disappointment, I might add.
Fake bloggers, chapanenco, is calling the bloggers, fake...huh...what else can he say, maybe 2 blogs in all morning at mhns.jajajajajajaja,jojojojojo, jjijijijijijij jou, jou, jou, jou, you can't take it, 2 comments, one from a failed politiquero. Probably, your relative. jajajaj
Vietnam Veterans deserve our thanks. It was a bad war full of politics and they were forcd to kill innocent women and children. I'll be there to thank them!
I plan to be there, although, I am NOT a Viet-Nam veteran.
Seven stories, seven comments, most responses from the operator of the blog.
Jerry Deal, doesn't need Tony Chapis, Chapis needs Deal and the Trib to exist.
Hey, is Tony "Tonto" Chapa a veteran? No! Is he a U.S. Citizen? he won't say. why are we talking about this faker? Es un peor-es-nada, as they say in his barrio neighborhod. LOL!!!
My super best guess is that based on his backseat activities, his nickname should be - Tony "Nalgas" Chapa. LOL!!!
i agree with the Vietnam veterans. they were dealt a bad hand in that war, which was never declared. It was really a "conflict" according to historians. But many of those soldiers died. those who are left should be told that those who served and died did not do it for nothing. Nixon was to blame.
if he is a dwarf, wouldn't that be "Nalgitas?" I say yes, you say yes we all say yes. LOL!!!
8 paste and copy stories, 8 comments, some from him, about 5 legit, comments. JIJIJIJIJIJIJ, tongito, tontito, al a back seat del carro de tu amigito, hunto con la cholita.
Jerry Deal's blog is kicking your dwarfy chinche ass, as is this blog, jujujujuju
Paz-Martinez, do you mean to tell me, that if the feds shut the goverment down, my disability check won't be coming down the pike.
How am I going to pay for my 2011 CTS and my Taghauer watch, and the $1.200 dollart 5X statson hat I just purchased?? There has to be a law against this type of abuse.
I was planning on flying to Montana this coming month, guess, I will have to contact, my American Express Rep.
No sireeeee, I don't like this one bit, no sirrrrr, not one bit.
Mr. Editor; Obama better get his rear end going or he is going to be a one time president. He hasn't closed Guantamo like he promise, he hasn't supported the Unions like he promised, and now he is losing a budget fight.
Mr. President, time to get on the ball, and fight the Republicans, like, gato boca arriva.
Take the fight to Gran Old Party, don't let the GOP dictate.
(Styling Man), why don't you try getting a job, and quit living of the Tax-payers, the only abuse is all this free food stampers, and every social program, that gives free assistance a viejas pansonas que no trabajan Y tienen 20 guercos, y viejos arrastrados como styling mooch. I hope they reposses your stupid car, and your pompous idiotic watch y te quedes sin sombrero, pompous bum.
I recall being told that Tort reform would equal lowered insurance rates....
Hey, i am just curious to know about the Texas Lottery system. Can you know the exact way of participating in this game?
EURO:...One thing - you cannot buy Texas Lotto tickets via the Internet. But check out TheLotter.com. That may be your best. We thank you for contributing to the economy of the Great State of Texas... - Editor
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