>Don Harris wrote:



>
>1. Rather than pump money into the economy, lotteries actually draw money
>out, as people buy tickets with money they otherwise might have spent at
>pre-existing businesses. A survey of 1,200 California stores taken by the
>California Grocers Association reported an average decline in food sales of
>7 percent since the imposition of the California lottery.


"Might have spent"?  In Chattanooga, let's also look at the money the
local businesses lose while TN residents chose to go over the state
line to avoid our sales tax.  To ignore this obvious lost revenue
while pointing to a potential loss over the money spent on lottery
tickets (without even menioning the number of people who buy
something ELSE while the go in for that lotto ticket) is to mislead
with statistics.

I support the lottery.  Although many believe that the poor are
victimized by the availability of a lottery ticket, I believe that
the poor are victimized by a lack of access to higher education, and
by a high sales tax.

Monte Coulter
--
Dr. Monte Coulter
Professor of Music, UTC
Coordinator of Graduate Studies in Music
(423) 755-4647