Andy Rooney: Lotteries and lottery players are stupid
Editor: The following is a weekly 60 Minutes commentary by CBS News correspondent Andy Rooney, originally broadcast on March 19, 2006, and re-broadcast last night.
The study that Rooney quotes, saying that poor people gamble the most, is completely false. All credible studies show that all demographics gamble roughly the same amount. Rooney's commentary is shown here to illustrate the ignorant and myopic arguments of some anti-lottery critics.
I suppose it's true that I'm too easily annoye ...
Aug 7, 2006, 8:28 am - - Lottery News forum
A million bad reasons to vote
Why the Arizona voter lottery is a terrible idea
By Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe
Arizona voters will face an embarrassment of electoral riches this fall, when as many as 19 proposed laws appear on the state ballot for their approval. Among the measures to be voted on are a 50 percent increase in state legislators' salaries, a constitutional amendment allowing bail to be denied to illegal aliens , and the designation of English as the state's official language.
But one Arizona initiative ha ...
Aug 2, 2006, 9:41 am - - Lottery News forum
Don’t turn the voting process into a lottery
By Cheryl Tatum
Hendersonville Star News
The idea of turning the voting process into a lottery as proposed by an Arizona politician is one that is surely prompting comment from many circles.
Now when I write columns for The Star News they typically are on issues or events that revolve around our local community. After all, this is a community newspaper and I believe should address those ideas that impact us where we live.
However, nothing is more important for us as a nation than the v ...
Jul 21, 2006, 10:06 am - - Lottery News forum
Buying Mega Millions lottery tickets a strictly defensive act
By Mark Hare
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Imagine how you'd feel if you came to work on a Monday morning and found the office empty.
Not because the company had down-sized to a department of one. But because you were the only one who said no to the office Mega Millions pool. Ten co-workers bought 20 tickets and won - don't be greedy - say, a mere $175 million. They took a lump sum and walked away with $6 million after taxes. And then they walked right out the door into retirement.
...
Mar 22, 2006, 11:00 am - - Lottery News forum
N.C. lottery is quickly piling up a lot of dirty laundry
Editorial By Asheville Citizen-Times
published February 19, 2006
The North Carolina Lottery may bring extra money into state coffers, but the questionable ethics surrounding its inception and the controversies it continues to generate raise serious questions about whether the cost outweighs the value.
Last week two new conflicts presented themselves. The first confirms the worst suspicions of many lottery opponents and the fears of some lottery supporters. The second is a slap in the face ...
Feb 20, 2006, 8:30 am - - Lottery News forum
A lottery ticket run to the border
An entertaining story about a jaunt to a bordering state to buy lottery tickets highlights Nevada's lack of a lottery and shoots down the 'regressive tax' theory.It was a typical Wednesday.Up at 4:45 a.m., I got in my morning walk with a friend, then negotiated with my husband to drop off the first set of boys at school (he graciously capitulated) so that I could start the day's adventure early.I put on my favorite hot pink T-shirt with the Black Mountain Community Bank logo, denim overalls, a ...
Dec 9, 2005, 10:06 am - - Lottery News forum
N.C. resident speaks out against computerized lottery drawings
Editor: The following letter appeared in the News Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) this morning, November 23, 2005. The Lottery Post staff urges other North Carolina residents to do as this bright woman did, and speak out on this important issue. Don't sit back and risk the possibility that your state will use a computer instead of real lottery drawings!I'm very happy that North Carolina has joined the rest of the East Coast in adopting a state lottery, and I'm excited to start playing. However, as ...
Nov 23, 2005, 11:33 am - - Lottery News forum
Editorial: The state lottery, starring...
By Jim Jenkins, News ObserverThe startup of the new North Carolina state lottery has of late turned into a soap opera with more twists than All My Children. But it's more akin to one of those situation comedies than to depressing drama. Sure, it is depressing drama, but the way things have been going, you gotta admit it's been more, well, slapstick lately.Consider all the hoo-rah around passage in the General Assembly, which most years is itself an ongoing comedy, which is the way you have t ...
Nov 11, 2005, 9:21 am - - Lottery News forum
Opinion: Time has come for a lottery in North Carolina
Charlotte Observer EditorialBy Jim Black, N.C. House SpeakerNorth Carolina must make the education of our children our number one priority and find the needed revenue to fund it. The future of our state and its people depend upon it.Unfortunately, the North Carolina legislature is facing a budget shortfall of more than $1.2 billion in the upcoming year. In order to continue improving education, legislators will either have to increase taxes or find new revenue sources to help fund education.Rais ...
Mar 28, 2005, 11:30 am - - Lottery News forum
MITCH ALBOM: Win the big lottery, spoil the marriage
I'm sure winning the lottery is good for something. But that something obviously isn't marriage.Take the recent case of Robert Swofford, a postal worker in Florida. He had been separated from his wife for three years. That's a long time to be separated. That's longer than many marriages. You figure that much time apart, you might as well finalize it. But they never got around to it.Then Swofford won the lottery. A fat $60 million. And wouldn't you know it? Just like that, his wife served him wit ...
Jan 11, 2005, 10:51 am - - Lottery News forum
