America's Gamble: Public School Finance and State Lotteries.

• Author: Gurgone, Michael J.

In their book America's Gamble, Thomas Jones, a professor of education at the University of Connecticut, and John Amalfitano, chairperson of special education at Toll Gate High School in Warwick, Rhode Island, analyze the impact of state lotteries on the public financing of education. The operative word in their title is "gamble," suggesting that the use of a form of gambling - the lottery - is also a gamble for public education. Unfortunately, every wager has a loser, and the authors demonstrate that the loser in this wager is the public schools.

The stated purpose of the authors is to assess the role of state lotteries in contemporary American culture, especially in reference to the funding of public schools. Using both historical and current information, the authors detail the purposes and operations of lotteries. Applying statistical techniques to available data, they are able to show that, contrary to the promises of many states, lotteries have not benefited public education. In fact, the existence of a lottery may hurt schools by diminishing the likelihood of funding from other sources.

Government-sponsored gambling has been a quiet revolution. In searching for new sources of revenues which might be more palatable to voters than direct taxes, state governments have increasingly turned to the lottery. Of the first 23 state lotteries (through 1987), more than half identified specific public services that would be supported by the proceeds. Most commonly, the public good was education. Thus, a perceived social evil - gambling - is made acceptable by using the proceeds for good causes. The questionable morality of government-sponsored gambling is draped in the robes of public good.

The authors examine the history of government lotteries, exploring the social and moral issues involved in them. They then consider the current state lotteries with respect to political, economic, and social questions. These sections provide a background to their primary purpose: to compare the actual results of lotteries against their promises. The analysis uses mathematical models to determine the actual effects of lotteries on public school funding. Chapter 5 charts the results and...