Pro-lottery group airs TV ad

Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2002 | 11:06 a.m.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A pro-lottery group has started airing a television ad designed to encourage support for a referendum on a numbers game for education in North Carolina.

The ad, created for the North Carolina Lottery for Education Coalition, depicts "Bubba" behind a convenience store where South Carolina lottery tickets are sold. North Carolinians have crossed the state line and spent millions on South Carolina's lottery since it went online in January.

"We love you Tar Heels buying our lottery tickets," Bubba says in the commercial, adding the tickets proceeds are being used "in K-through-12 education, south of the border."

Gov. Mike Easley wants a lottery to pay for his education initiatives. A vote on a referendum bill hasn't been taken by the full House because there haven't been enough votes to pass it, legislative leaders say. House Speaker Jim Black expects a vote before the General Assembly adjourns for the year.

"Here in South Carolina, we just love your good ol' North Carolina legislators," says Bubba, wearing a University of South Carolina baseball cap and South Carolina T-shirt.