by Cardigan
Dallas NAACP Wants Texas Lottery Shut Down
10:59 pm in Uncategorized by Cardigan
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – The Dallas chapter of the NAACP wants to stop seeing low income Texans pumping money into the state lottery by putting it out of business.
In poorer communities, though, the lottery seems to offer the chance at a life otherwise out of reach.
A study paid for by the Texas Lottery Commission says the people most likely to play Pick 3 are those making $20,000 a year or less –– below the poverty line. And people who are unemployed are more likely to buy scratch-off tickets than those who have jobs or retirees, the study found
David Anderson collects disability but still spends a few dollars a week testing his luck. “It’s up to me, spend this five dollars or should I go buy a loaf of bread and hamburger to feed the kids,’ he said.
But why stop something that’s raking in the money? So far in 2012 Texans have spent more than $3.3 billion in lottery tickets.
“They have this delusion that they’re going to win,” said chapter president Dr. Juanita Wallace. “I want them to shut it down,” she said. “Our people are spending their little money, their life savings away in hopes of winning.” The group voted recently to urge state officials to do away with the lottery.
