A campaign is under way in Maryland to make slot machine gambling legal, and the largest teachers union in the state has now added it’s endorsement for the referendum.
Of course the promise here, as with many state lottery programs, is that part of the winnings will fund education programs.
However, unless studies from other areas in the US that allow casual gambling don’t apply in Maryland, large parts of those “winnings” will come from people who can’t afford it in the first place.
So, is it a good idea to pay for public schools through such an inconsistent and morally questionable channel?
I guess you take what you can get considering the general public, for the most part, really doesn’t want to pay for schools (or most government services) at all.
I feel like most research has shown that having these sorts of monies go to education has not made a difference. It seems that when these monies go to education, the state cuts funding from other sources. So education ends up getting the same amount of money. (I can cite a source, sadly, so I could be way off base.)
I buy lottery tickets now and then, but it’s always entertaining that proceeds from gambling, which is like a tax on people who don’t understand math, often find their way to education.