Prop 1C would change the California Lottery

May 8, 2009, 8:35 am (8 comments)

California Lottery

Voting 'Yes' will allow lottery to create larger prize payouts

On May 19, California voters will have a chance to change the state lottery for the first time since it started in 1984.

Proposition 1C would allow the state to borrow $5 billion from future lottery profits to help balance the state's 2009-10 budget.

Lottery payment to educational institutions would end and the state general fund would increase its payments to schools to make up for the loss of lottery funds.

Currently, the lottery is set up to provide extra money to the state's schools without adding extra taxes.

The lottery is required to give schools at least 34 percent of its revenues. The rest of the money goes to prizes and administration.

The passage of Prop 1C would also allow the state to borrow funds from the lottery in future years.

Proponents argue that passing Prop 1C is a good way to generate new funds without raising taxes, and that education would be guaranteed the same level of funding that it currently gets from the state lottery.

Opponents, however, argue the state should leave the lottery funding as originally intended.

Other changes made by Prop 1C to the lottery include making lottery prize payouts more than the currently fixed 50 percent of lotto sales.

The idea is that the larger the prize, the number of people willing to play will increased, which means more funds for the state.

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

Todd's avatarTodd

Californians:  This sounds like a good idea to me.  It allows the lottery to raise the payout percentage.

How about you?

BaristaExpress's avatarBaristaExpress

Quote: Originally posted by Todd on May 8, 2009

Californians:  This sounds like a good idea to me.  It allows the lottery to raise the payout percentage.

How about you?

Sounds like the bait and switch game to me! I lived there when the lottery was first commissioned! I was born and raised in So. Calif. and I voted for the lottery to be started there and now those people are going to have their lottery torn up by changing it and in the long run letting the Education System be RIPPED OFF! This is a BAD IDEA, if it's not broken, don't mess with it! The California State Government is broken, not the lottery and what it was intended for (FUNDING EDUCATION). Don't make a huge mistake in letting them talk you into letting the state take the money and put it in the general fund and only "PROMISE" to keep the current funding for Education at the present levels! Everyone knows that ANY PROMISE from ANY POLITICIANS is a BUNCH OF BULLS*IT!

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by BaristaExpress on May 8, 2009

Sounds like the bait and switch game to me! I lived there when the lottery was first commissioned! I was born and raised in So. Calif. and I voted for the lottery to be started there and now those people are going to have their lottery torn up by changing it and in the long run letting the Education System be RIPPED OFF! This is a BAD IDEA, if it's not broken, don't mess with it! The California State Government is broken, not the lottery and what it was intended for (FUNDING EDUCATION). Don't make a huge mistake in letting them talk you into letting the state take the money and put it in the general fund and only "PROMISE" to keep the current funding for Education at the present levels! Everyone knows that ANY PROMISE from ANY POLITICIANS is a BUNCH OF BULLS*IT!

Well, I guess I understand the desire to keep the lottery revenues targeted on education, but I think there is a much larger issue in the state of California, and this seems like one of the only ways to help it.

The problem with education in that state is that all the extremely liberal politicians that keep getting elected by the residents of the state are forking out huge amounts of money to illegal aliens, giving them access to public education, medical benefits, and every other type of public assistance that is designed for citizens of the country, not illegals.

Thus, these illegals, most of whom are not contributing into the system, are taking an enormous chunk of the money out of the system, and there is no way to replenish it.  Taxes are already sky-high.

If the state does not institute creative solutions like this lottery proposal, and the voters continue refusing to boot out all the liberals in the legislature, how else would the state avoid bankruptcy?

See the problem?

You can't say "the politicians should stop wasting money" when you (the citizens) keep electing people who promise to keep wasting it. 

People need to use their heads when going to the voting booth, and stop treating politics like a sports team that has their undying loyalty.

OldSchoolPa's avatarOldSchoolPa

Quote: Originally posted by Todd on May 8, 2009

Well, I guess I understand the desire to keep the lottery revenues targeted on education, but I think there is a much larger issue in the state of California, and this seems like one of the only ways to help it.

The problem with education in that state is that all the extremely liberal politicians that keep getting elected by the residents of the state are forking out huge amounts of money to illegal aliens, giving them access to public education, medical benefits, and every other type of public assistance that is designed for citizens of the country, not illegals.

Thus, these illegals, most of whom are not contributing into the system, are taking an enormous chunk of the money out of the system, and there is no way to replenish it.  Taxes are already sky-high.

If the state does not institute creative solutions like this lottery proposal, and the voters continue refusing to boot out all the liberals in the legislature, how else would the state avoid bankruptcy?

See the problem?

You can't say "the politicians should stop wasting money" when you (the citizens) keep electing people who promise to keep wasting it. 

People need to use their heads when going to the voting booth, and stop treating politics like a sports team that has their undying loyalty.

Well spoken Todd, and I totally agree....but I think you can talk until your face turns blue...the same color that California bleeds because they are Democrat to the core.  California is a happy go lucky kind of a place....a place where the idea of fiscal responsiblity is a pipe dream (how else can one explain the number of celebrities who seemingly think the cash will not stop flowing in even when their services are not in demand?).  It is as though their fingerprints have a donkey print in them or that when you talk about DNA stuff with a Californian, they think you are talking about the Democratic National Association, and just like the biological DNA that being Democrat is an inseparable part of who they are. 

Which is a big reason why I could not bring myself to live in California.  No I don't bleed Republican and at times in the past I have voted for a Democrat candidate.  But I get leery of any politician that wants to hock not only my future but the future of my children and even their children (oops, somebody has already done that this year!).  The way I see it, if all of the Congressmen and women would vote to take only $1 in pay this year, that would go a long way toward showing the rest of the country that they are in this together with us.  But you know that will never happen....heck they have their payraises on auto pilot and their retirement is the best anywhere around (tell me where can one "work" for 4 years (or even less in some cases) and draw a sweet monthly pension?  Really tempts one to just run for the heck of it!

wizeguy's avatarwizeguy

If they're going to fund schools by the same amount I don't see an advantage to this. They need to balance their budget rather than borrow against future assets.

GASMETERGUY

Like true Liberals, California officials can't see past the end of their noses.  Borrowing money with no visible means of paying it back will only put off the inevitable.  California can not pay their bills now.  How will they manage to pay back the Lottory when the time comes?

This a a stop-gap measure at best.

Dollar419's avatarDollar419

I have already vote a big NO on borrowing future revenue from the lottery; the lottery is not going broke, the State of CA is and the way they present it is false.  I think the lottery can better market the existing games to have higher payoffs by coming up with new raffles and newer games so that there are more winners, if you have more winners, there will be more people playing, with more revenue coming in.

larry3100's avatarlarry3100

I'll vote for that proposition 1C. I've been playing the California lottery since it started. I want bigger payouts. Arnold wants it too!. Hyper

End of comments
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