Lottery favored by voters

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Monday, Nov. 12, 2001 | 10:04 a.m.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- It's a year before voting time, but a recent statewide poll shows that a majority of Tennesseans plan to vote for a state lottery.

The Tennessee Poll of 600 registered voters conducted Oct. 1-4 showed 55 percent want a lottery. Forty percent said they would vote against one, and the remainder said they were "not sure."

The lottery will be on a referendum ballot Nov. 5, 2002, when Tennesseans will decide whether to lift the state constitutional ban on lotteries.

Steve Cohen, a Memphis Democrat who led the effort in the Legislature to put the lottery question to voters, said the majority is lower than what other polls have shown over the years.

"The numbers are not as positive as the numbers have been over the last 17 years," Cohen said. "It was surprising."

In September leaders of Washington-based National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling told lottery opponents their chances of keeping one out of Tennessee would be enhanced with strong backing from area churches. As a result, some churches have started organizing campaigns to defeat the lottery.