Adoption of State lotteries in the United States, with a closer look at Illinois.

• Author: Gribbin, Donald W.

State lotteries, now widely accepted, once had a seedy reputation. In the late nineteenth century, reformers successfully argued that lotteries were "morally corrupting; they were often operated dishonestly; and they created serious social problems, including economic distress and gambling addiction" (Clotfelter and Cook 1989, 37). Graft and corruption were inherent parts of many state lotteries. When a Louisiana politician died shortly after voting in support of the lottery, $18,000 (more than $200,000 in dollars of 2003 purchasing power) was found on his body. Another legislator found $20,000 under his breakfast plate one morning, presumably an expression of gratitude from a lottery supporter (Blakey 1979, 69). In state after state, reformers succeeded in eliminating this source of corruption. Louisiana, the final state to abolish the lottery, did so in 1895.

A new era for state lotteries began in the 1960s. In 1964, New Hampshire ushered in a wave of government-sponsored lotteries. Politicians viewed lotteries as a panacea for the fiscal woes the state faced. New Hampshire lottery supporters emphasized the potential for generating revenue. Obviously, the political consequences of initiating a state sales tax or income tax would be deleterious, whereas a state lottery (a "voluntary" tax) was more palatable to the general populace. (New Hampshire still does not have a state sales tax or a state income tax.) Governor John King, apparently testing the wind direction, supported the lottery after becoming convinced the people wanted it: "I am unwilling to set myself up as a Solomon or a Caesar in the holy assumption that my views are more intelligent or discerning or moralistic than those of our people" (qtd. in Clotfelter and Cook 1989, 143). Many states followed New Hampshire's lead. Today, forty states operate lotteries, ostensibly in the "public interest" (LaFleur's 2004). (1)

Despite the claim that the lotteries sprang from the states' fiscal crises, lotteries may simply be the result of politicians' preference for more revenue. Budget deficits area convenient rationale for expanding the government's revenues. Whether politicians use a "fiscal crisis" to justify lotteries or simply want more revenues, however, the result is the same.

A likely result of increased revenues is the creation of new government programs and a higher rate of spending. Because spending on new government programs becomes "locked in," the postcrisis spending level will not return to the precrisis level. Robert Higgs refers to this asymmetric cycle of government spending as the "ratchet phenomenon." Its upshot is that "a great crisis produces not only a temporarily bigger government but a permanently bigger government" (1987, 59). Future financial crises make the problem even worse by requiring even more taxes.

When faced with the lottery issue, many politicians publicly espouse the benefits accruing to the general public. Three central rationales often used to justify lotteries are as follows: the public benefits because lotteries allegedly increase public-education funds without increases in state income taxes or local property taxes; (2) a lottery (legalized gambling) will decrease illegal gambling; and lotteries are voluntary, as if only those who choose to play the lottery are affected.

The benefits alleged to result from lotteries often do not materialize. Even though the amount of public-education funding may increase after a lottery is adopted, there is no "dollar-for-dollar" increase in public-education funding because "general fund" revenues allocated to public education are often decreased when lotteries are enacted ("bait and switch"). Funds that would have been used for public education are frequently replaced by lottery funds. Like other state lotteries, the Illinois lottery (the focus of this article) represents legalized money laundering on a "mega"-scale. Moreover, lotteries often do not decrease illegal gambling. In fact, lotteries may unintentionally increase illegal gambling. And finally, many negative externalities are associated with lotteries, although politicians conveniently overlook them.

Background

Various civilizations have used lotteries for different purposes throughout history. Biblical accounts of the casting of lots may be among the earliest written records of a lottery. According to Proverbs 16:33, casting lots may be used to settle disputes: "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord." Acts 1:26 states that the eleven remaining apostles, when deciding on a replacement for Judas, "drew lots ..., and the lot fell to Matthias." Alan Karcher notes that biblical examples of the casting of lots illustrate how people of faith let "Divine Providence" exercise a choice in human affairs (1989, 14). Karcher uses a passage from Acts to make two important points: that early Christians accepted selection by lottery as a value-neutral method of distributing or allocating benefits and burdens; and that the lottery as a morally correct method of distribution and allocation of benefits and burdens was divinely sanctioned (1989, 14). In short, Karcher, using the Bible as his support, contends that our culture today accepts lotteries because they are "fair" and "morally neutral" and controlled by Divine Providence. (3) As he sees it, lotteries are one way "God works His will here on earth" (Karcher 1989, 15). However, in subsequent comments, Karcher qualifies his analysis and notes that "the state lotteries in operation today are a far cry from what we have just reviewed [the biblical examples]" (16).

From the sixteenth century onward, lottery revenues in England were used for building the Westminster bridge, funding the navy, and establishing the British Museum (Raven 1991, 371). When Queen Elizabeth held the first English lottery in 1569, tickets sold for ten shillings (about $2.50), and the prizes ranged from the equivalent of 50 cents to $25,000 (approximately $200,000 in dollars of 2003 purchasing power) (Blanche 1950, 71). Yet lottery revenues were generally a small percentage of total government revenues. After the mid-1790s, lottery revenues never exceeded 3 percent of public income, and after 1810 they were always less than 2 percent (Raven 1991, 380). Even during the war with the North American colonies, the lottery receipts reached only 7 percent of public income (Raven 1991, 380). Before being abolished in 1826, the lottery was never a significant source of government funding except during times of extreme financial need, such as wars.

Nevertheless, the lottery was important in the founding of British North America. The king authorized the Virginia Company of London to conduct a lottery for a one-year period because of its financial difficulties in supporting the Jamestown settlement. The company held the first lottery in London on July 20, 1612. This lottery failed to meet the Virginia Company's financial needs, so three additional lotteries were held in the 1620s (Pierce and Miller 2004, 11). Responding to charges of mismanagement and businessmen's complaints that the lottery siphoned money from honest industry, the House of Commons removed the Virginia Company's authority to conduct lotteries (Blakey 1979, 63).

Notwithstanding the Virginia Company fiasco, lotteries thrived in colonial America, including both private drawings and legally sanctioned ones (Kaplan 1984, 92). Private drawings were for personal profit and usually involved raffling merchandise, land, or slaves. Individuals often used private lotteries to pay debts. Thomas Jefferson, at the age of eighty-three, tried to pay debts totaling $80,000 by disposing of land through a lottery, but he failed to sell enough tickets to liquidate his debts before he died in 1826 (Kaplan 1984, 92).

States and municipalities held the legally sanctioned lotteries throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to finance public projects such as roads, bridges, canals, courthouses, hospitals, and schools (Blanche 1950, 71; Kaplan 1984, 92). Between 1790 and 1860, several colleges, including Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, Princeton, Brown, Columbia, and Rutgers benefited from lotteries. The legally sanctioned lotteries were also used to fund wars and other public programs (Blanche 1950, 71; Kaplan 1984, 92).

In colonial America, governments used lotteries to finance specific public improvements, and the lottery ceased when the project was completed. A group seeking a specific public improvement petitioned the colonial government to permit a lottery. If the government was unable or unwilling to fund the project, it usually would authorize a lottery (Blakey 1979, 65). Today, most state lotteries are permanent.

Lotteries were so popular in the early 1800s that eight eastern states raised a total of $66.4 million in 1832. This amount was four times the federal expenditure of the same year...