Monday, April 4, 2005 | 9:31 a.m.
RALEIGH, N.C. -- If North Carolina is going to have a lottery, House Speaker Jim Black wants it to be kind and genteel, mindful of gambling addicts and poor people who don't have money to squander on dreams of longshot wealth.
Lottery opponents say there's no way such good intentions will last -- and researchers and lottery operators say such a plan will invariably limit the very profits that many see as justifying a numbers game.
Black recently came out in favor of a game -- but only if there are limits on how much is spent on advertising.
The leader of the Democratic majority in the House -- which traditionally has been the primary impediment to passing any pro-lottery legislation -- says all he wants to do is recapture the estimated $300 million spent by North Carolina residents on lotteries in neighboring states.
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