Methodist Church wants state to ax lottery

Tuesday, June 8, 1999 | 10:48 a.m.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Delegates at the United Methodist Church's West Michigan Conference want the state to get rid of its lottery.

State lotteries have encouraged expanded gambling nationwide, the delegates said. The measure urging the state to spend its estimated $500 million budget surplus by eliminating the lottery was approved during Friday's meeting at Calvin College.

"The budget surplus is occurring while the state of Michigan continues to derive a portion of its revenues from a state-operated lottery. Lotteries have been demonstrated to be a tax on the citizens who are least able to afford the risk," delegates said in a statement over the weekend.

Some 1,100 delegates attended the conference, which represents about 75,000 Methodists in 428 churches.

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