Poll - PB & MM vs a National LotteryPrev Topic Next Topic

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Is a National Lottery preferable to proliferation of Multi-State Lotteries

Yes

[ 10 ]

[ 40.0% ]

[ 11 ]

[ 44.0% ]

Indifferent

[ 4 ]

[ 16.0% ]

Total valid votes

[ 25 ]

Discarded votes

[ 1 ]

Rip Snorter

New Mexico
United States
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Jul 4, 2006, 12:47 am

Quote: Originally posted by Just6ntlc on July 3, 2006
My vote is yes. I think all non-gambling states should join too some day.
I'm thinking if it happens at all they ought to be blackmailed, starved, browbeaten into submission, those states. Orders from headquarters. Dissenting mayors and governors summarily executed by a firing squad in the town plaza or on the steps of the state capitols.
Anybody opposed is a potential terrorist to be handed over to the Homeland Security forces. People rousted from their homes in the middle of the night, snagged from street corners by men in black fedoras and black calfskin overcoats, hustled into cattle cars and carried off who knows where, but it stinks of ribbon wire and guard dogs and submachine guns.
That sort of thing.
J

Absorb the good, ignore the bad, weigh the ugly.
It's about number behavior.
Egos don't count.

Dedicated to the memory of Big Loooser
goldrush

Australia
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Jul 4, 2006, 1:10 am

If should not be a matter of a State Vs Federal. Let's have both, and let the people decide. Some will decide to play their local state lottery, some will play the US Lotto, some will play both. And the vocal minority who are opposed to lotteries can choose not to play any! EVERYONE WILL BE HAPPY!
As the Federal Government needs more revenue, and while a US lottery would not solve all it's financial woos, it would raise billions of dollars, the UK National Lottery has proven that. The whole country would win.
LOTTOMIKE

Tennessee
United States
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Jul 4, 2006, 7:16 am

good poll jack.i voted yes.i would like to see one big lottery as opposed to the other two.be interesting to see what states hit the jackpot the most.it would also be a sign of unity.i think it would be cool.it would always be interesting to see what state might hit.also no silly cap once the jackpot hits a record level.it would be cool to see a 500 million dollar pot.imagine some poor soul winning a half a billion dollars.the feel good stories.the red,white and blue USA LOTTO logo.the red,white and blue colored balls.............
Rip Snorter

New Mexico
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Jul 4, 2006, 8:07 am

Quote: Originally posted by goldrush on July 4, 2006
If should not be a matter of a State Vs Federal. Let's have both, and let the people decide. Some will decide to play their local state lottery, some will play the US Lotto, some will play both. And the vocal minority who are opposed to lotteries can choose not to play any! EVERYONE WILL BE HAPPY!
As the Federal Government needs more revenue, and while a US lottery would not solve all it's financial woos, it would raise billions of dollars, the UK National Lottery has proven that. The whole country would win.
Goldrush:
I agree.
Freedom of choice is certainly the way the citizens of a once more-or-less free nation who wanted to return to a condition of somewhat freedom would wish to handle such issues.
However, in the spirit of omlettes, this is one that would break some powerful eggs with an aversion to being broken. The existing multi-state lotteries.
In the severely remote event a US National Lottery decided to be precisely what it claimed to be without the shell games it would have jackpots of actual size larger than the illusions currently available.
Americans, someone has noted, are quite possibly less stupid in some instances, than they appear to be. They'd flock (I believe) to a lottery that incorporated a modicum of honesty.
The Multi-States would implode instantaneously.
Meanwhile, we all know how government, once it gets a toehold somewhere, oozes amoeba-like filling other cracks and crannies. State governments have also noticed this, every since the US ceased to be a Federal Republic and gradually became a levithon following the Civil War.
Visualize a National Lottery with a secondary Non-Fantasy 5 daily game, say 5/40. Prizes, maybe a thousand a day larger than the current state ones awarded at face value.
How long, we wonders, would the state games survive in an atmosphere of candor, honesty and freedom of choice?
As I said in the poll, I'm indifferent. I don't believe it will ever happen. And if it did happen, I don't believe it will happen as I describe.
A government that's living on Master-Card and calling it a budget is so used to shell games it might actually figure out a way to create a lottery that's WORSE than the current Multi-State biggies.
Thanks for the post.
J

Absorb the good, ignore the bad, weigh the ugly.
It's about number behavior.
Egos don't count.

Dedicated to the memory of Big Loooser
Rip Snorter

New Mexico
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Jul 4, 2006, 8:16 am

Quote: Originally posted by LOTTOMIKE on July 4, 2006
good poll jack.i voted yes.i would like to see one big lottery as opposed to the other two.be interesting to see what states hit the jackpot the most.it would also be a sign of unity.i think it would be cool.it would always be interesting to see what state might hit.also no silly cap once the jackpot hits a record level.it would be cool to see a 500 million dollar pot.imagine some poor soul winning a half a billion dollars.the feel good stories.the red,white and blue USA LOTTO logo.the red,white and blue colored balls.............
red,white and blue USA LOTTO logo.the red,white and blue colored balls.............
I think a sort of twisty magnetic ribbon to post on the car trunk was more what I had in mind. Something with colors a lot like currency and little pictures of Ben Franklin, maybe, made in Red China with all the others.
Thanks Mike.
J

Absorb the good, ignore the bad, weigh the ugly.
It's about number behavior.
Egos don't count.

Dedicated to the memory of Big Loooser
LOTTOMIKE

Tennessee
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Jul 4, 2006, 8:19 am

we could get george bush to announce the numbers as they come sliding out of the chute.....
Rip Snorter

New Mexico
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Jul 4, 2006, 8:59 am

Quote: Originally posted by LOTTOMIKE on July 4, 2006
we could get george bush to announce the numbers as they come sliding out of the chute.....
Mike:
Maybe that's how it would end up.
But it's too gray.
We need guys with hats turned sidewize making fingersigns prancing with drums and half-naked girls in the background announcing those numbers, rhyming them.
We need basketball superstars dribbling 'em around slamdunking them.
We need football stars huthuthut, backup, rushed, crushed but sneaking a hail mary across the goalpost into the arms of hmmmm Hollywood Henderson who spikes them and dances afterward.
We need pretty women of various sexes slinking with music in the background mouthing the words all meloncholy the way you see on those MTV videos they show in motel rooms.
We need something to capture the hearts and minds of AMERICA.
J

Absorb the good, ignore the bad, weigh the ugly.
It's about number behavior.
Egos don't count.

Dedicated to the memory of Big Loooser
cps10

The Carolinas - Charlotte
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Jul 4, 2006, 9:43 am

LOL Jack...I could see all of that happening..would be better than the boobs and buffoons that we have announcing numbers at the state level today.

The North Carolina Education Lottery - so much a joke that here are their mascots:
Coin Toss

Zeta Reticuli Star System
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Jul 4, 2006, 10:05 am

Quote: Originally posted by goldrush on July 4, 2006
If should not be a matter of a State Vs Federal. Let's have both, and let the people decide. Some will decide to play their local state lottery, some will play the US Lotto, some will play both. And the vocal minority who are opposed to lotteries can choose not to play any! EVERYONE WILL BE HAPPY!
As the Federal Government needs more revenue, and while a US lottery would not solve all it's financial woos, it would raise billions of dollars, the UK National Lottery has proven that. The whole country would win.
goldrush
That's not the idea, State vs Federal, the poll is about Powerball and Mega Millions vs a National Lottery.
I don't think anyone is saying a National Loyyery would replace all state lotteries, just the multi-state lotteries we now have.

And it would give those in non-lottery states the opportunity to play- there is no state right now that doesn't have its own lottery that is a MM or PB state.
cps10

The Carolinas - Charlotte
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Jul 4, 2006, 10:31 am

Coin Toss
That is not true. We only have Powerball here in NC. No state numbers game. No Pick 3, Pick 4 or Pick 5. Maybe they will come soon, and there has been mention of a Carolinas Pick 6 for NC & SC. But right now, nothing.
Not to mention the states that have NO lottery whatsoever like Alabama, Utah, Nevada, and probably a few others.
But you are right...it is about getting rid of the two multi-state lotteries to form one national lottery here in the U.S.

The North Carolina Education Lottery - so much a joke that here are their mascots:
Rick G

FEMA Region V Camp #21
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Jul 4, 2006, 10:45 am

I always kind of figured that this would happen someday. I'm surprised the feds haven't done this yet. They need more money to spend.

Posted 4/6: IL Pick 3 midday and evening until they hit: 555, 347 (str8).
Raven62

25

New Jersey
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Jul 4, 2006, 12:18 pm

In 2006, Congress and the President enacted the Provision of Additional National
Income through Chance (PANIC) Act to reduce the national government's growing deficit.
Longshotz, No. 999. The PANIC Act established a national lottery open to qualifying
persons in all fifty States. Id. Those qualifying for purchase can buy an unlimited
number of PANIC tickets. Id.

The provisions of the PANIC Act require that all states establish adequate arrangements
for the sale and distribution of PANIC lottery tickets; states with established state
lotteries are required to make PANIC lottery tickets equally available at all places
where the state lottery tickets are sold. Id. A state that fails to accommodate the
PANIC Act's national lottery, whether or not a lottery already exists, automatically
loses twenty percent of its federally appropriated funds from the United States
Department of Education. Id. Within six months of operation, the PANIC lottery's
frequent generous prizes and extensive promotions had taken seventy-five percent of the
revenue previously received by the states' lotteries. Longshotz, No. 999.

The National Conference of State Governors brought suit against Sascha Longshotz in her
official capacity as Director of the National Lottery Board. National Conference of
State Governors v. Longshotz, No. 999 (E.D. Bedlam, Mar., 6 2006). The Plaintiffs
argued that the Act exceeded Congress' commerce and spending powers under Article I of
the Constitution, and further, that it violated Amendment X by usurping powers
constitutionally reserved to the states. Id. The District Court upheld the PANIC Act's
constitutionality. Id. On appeal, the Court of Appeals for the Fourteenth Circuit
reversed the District Court. National Conference of State Governors v. Longshotz, No.
0527 (14th Cir. Sept. 20, 2006).

The United States government, through the passage of the PANIC Act of 2006,
overstepped its powers under the Commerce Clause. In our federal system, the federal
government is one of enumerated powers, with all other powers falling to the state and
to the people. The Commerce Clause is a limited power, and the PANIC Act is invalid
under the Commerce Clause in three ways. First, the PANIC Act does not serve as a
regulation; it is merely a promulgation of a federal lottery. Second, the activities
that are governed by the Act are not "among the several states" as required by the
Commerce Clause. Finally, gambling, specifically the lottery, should be viewed by the
Court as falling outside the sphere of commercial intercourse.

The PANIC Act also fails to gain validity under the Spending Clause. The restriction
of funding to the states is invalid, as it is not implemented pursuant to the general
welfare, nor does a relationship exist between the funds withheld and the program
seeking to be promoted. Additionally, Congress' power under the Spending Clause is
limited by other provisions within the constitution, in this instance, the Tenth
Amendment and the Commerce Clause, respectively. The PANIC Act has the effect of
using the spending power in order to coerce the states into compliance, further
invalidating the Act.

Finally, the PANIC Act violates the Tenth Amendment's protection afforded to each
state government. In the Act, the federal government forces states to comply with the
provisions; this is impermissible under the Tenth Amendment because it blurs the line
of accountability between federal and state officials. It serves as a punishment to
noncomplying state governments, and it serves as an impermissible attempt to regulate
the state versus the individual.
Coin Toss

Zeta Reticuli Star System
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Jul 4, 2006, 1:30 pm

cps10
Sorry, wasn't aware of that, but NC is the newest state to have any lottery at all, so prior to that, as far as I know, no state had Powerball or Mega Millions and those were "the only games in town".
I wonder if some of the people voting No would explain why.
Rip Snorter

New Mexico
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Jul 4, 2006, 1:34 pm

Quote: Originally posted by Rick G on July 4, 2006
I always kind of figured that this would happen someday. I'm surprised the feds haven't done this yet. They need more money to spend.
Rick:
It's certainly an untapped potential source of Federal revenue. When the states went interstate with PB and MM (as well as the other multi-state games) they definitely entered some unexplored territory.
Heck, maybe the Feds are looking at it through their bean counting microscopes even now.
About the time I learned of those half-a-trillion dollar G-Tech numbers and couldn't help comparing it to the deficit the last time I looked half a decade ago, I thought to myself there's another shoe gonna fall on all this, one day.
Those Multi-State games are really natural targets for the US Attorneys Office anyway, when you think about it. All the 'unavailable' ticket sales info from a public owned institution, all the foggy organizational structure. All the teetering-on-the-brink of deceptive trade practices.
All the Feds need to do is subpoena some records and start digging, lots of high profile news and hints leaked ...... those MUSL folks would run home and be happy to get out without seeing any bars.
Then there's the public clamor aftermath for a single, national lottery.
Heeheehee.
J

Absorb the good, ignore the bad, weigh the ugly.
It's about number behavior.
Egos don't count.

Dedicated to the memory of Big Loooser
Rip Snorter

New Mexico
United States
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Jul 4, 2006, 2:00 pm

The other side of the coin, however, could lose the multi-state games and not gain a national lottery.
It's not too difficult to imagine that once someone started turning over rocks for a close look at the scorpion practices of MUSL, some hungry televangelist making a crusade of the whole issue of gambling and government involvement..... along with the dishonesty in government perpetrated as a result. They'd have all manner of evidence to support the case.
Christian television might well have a hayday with it, forcing the hand of the US Attorney to look just to survive the political tidal wave
A Bonfire of the Vanities scenario, but with state lottery officials roasting at the stake in the middle.
J

Absorb the good, ignore the bad, weigh the ugly.
It's about number behavior.
Egos don't count.

Dedicated to the memory of Big Loooser

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