July 31, 2000
TOGETHER:
State government's promotion of lottery is legal evil
___The lottery is a sad commentary on the games people play and the role of government in endorsing behavior that is destructive to its own citizens.
___When Texans were asked to vote on the lottery, most Baptists firmly opposed the bill and argued that not only was the lottery gambling, but it was also a tax, although voluntarily accepted, on those who had the least to spend. It is in its own way a special taxon the poor, since all the studies show the poor spend a bigger part of their money on the lottery than any other group of citizens.
CHARLES WADE
Executive Director
BGCT Executive Board
___The Texas State Lottery has been finding fewer people willing to buy in to the sales pitch. As ticket sales declined, advertising budgets promoting the lottery have gone up. New games have been devised. Better odds have been offered.
___Still, the lottery sales, although still huge, are falling.
___Does this mean our citizens are catching on that the lottery is a great waste of their money? Does the occasional trumpeting of a winner's good "luck" have less and less appeal? Are people beginning to realize about $50 million worth of tickets have to be sold for the prize to reach $27 million? Are they beginning to catch on that gambling carries high risks and does not contribute to a better life, better values, stronger character or a positive influence on others?
___I hope so.
___But does it distress you that our own state government, rather than rejoicing that people are deciding not to buy lottery tickets, redoubles its efforts to persuade the citizens to spend their money on gambling games?
___It is bad enough to make an evil thing legal. It is much worse to promote it, to seek to entice others into the gambling lifestyle that can become a seductive and addictive trap.
___One of the studies done by the National Gambling Impact Study Commission reported to Congress in 1999 that 5 percent of lottery purchasers buy 51 percent of all tickets sold.
___Not all of these people are poor, obviously, but they are likely addicted, and their life choices are damaging to those who love and depend upon them.
___Let me encourage all Texas Baptists to see the lottery for what it is and lend no support at all to it. I hope you won't buy the tickets.
___Perhaps you would like to write your elected representatives and ask them to find a way to restrict the lottery promoters in their attempts to boost lottery sales.
___The Apostle Paul's word about government is helpful here: "The authorities that exist have been established by God. ... For he is God's servant to do you good" (Romans 13:1c, 4a). Government is to protect its citizens and hold citizens accountable to its laws. But underneath it all, government should do good by its citizens.
___Perhaps the Lottery Commission could be required to spend as much warning citizens of the dangers of gambling as they do promoting gambling. That would make clear that we care about the well-being of others and do not want to exploit them in order to enrich ourselves.
___Here is a good place to remember that Jesus said, "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39), and Paul, applying that command, said, "Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others" (1 Corinthians 10:24).
___We are loved.
___
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