Panel OKs state lottery to help fund education

Kirsten Searer

Thursday, March 3, 2005 | 9:49 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The gaming industry didn't show up Wednesday to protest a bill that would create a lottery in Nevada to fund education.

Instead, the opponents were mostly Republican legislators opposed to adding more gaming to the state.

"The lottery is not going to solve the problem, so I would be very reluctant to add a new tax," said Assemblyman Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City. "We actually need to step up and admit that we need to fund education, we need to fund books. I don't think we need a new vehicle that actually has all the attending problems that lotteries do."

The Assembly Education Committee passed a bill anyway, 7-4, that would amend the state Constitution to allow a lottery that would fund class-size reduction, books and other classroom supplies. It will now go to the Assembly floor.

The legislature would have to pass the bill twice and send it to the voters in 2008 to amend the Constitution.

Democrats laid out a case for the lottery by hosting teachers, students and parents who talked about using print-out information at home instead of textbooks.

Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, held up a tattered Nevada history book now being used in a Carson City Middle School. A lottery could yield up to $70 million a year for the classroom once it's up and running, Perkins said.

"How can we hold our teachers accountable if they're not given what they need to educate our children?" he asked.

Las Vegas resident Anna Gomez said her 13-year-old daughter can't bring books home to do homework, and the books she uses are "ugly, with ripped, missing pages."

"She's a really good student," Gomez said. "I hope she has opportunities to go to college. I worry about the conditions of Jennifer's school, and I'm wondering how that is going to affect her life later."

Perkins acknowledged that he has voiced opposition to lotteries in past years.

"I, too, have been very skeptical about lotteries in past sessions," he said. "Having done some research and becoming better educated, I think now's the time.

Do I expect the largest industry in our state to embrace this and come forward? Certainly not," Perkins said. "It could be another gaming product that competes with them."

Indeed, no representatives of the gaming industry stood up to complain about the measure. The Nevada Resort Association is taking a neutral position on the issue, though Station Casinos is opposing it.

Lesley Pittman, vice president of corporate and government relations at Station, said the company believes lotteries could compete with other gaming.

"We certainly support adding additional funds for classrooms," she said.

Another person voting against the measure was Assemblyman Bob McCleary, D-North Las Vegas, who would only say that he has "philosophical problems" with a lottery.

The rest of the dissenters were Republicans, including Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, R-Reno, who said she didn't want the state to count on funds that could rise or fall depending on how many people play the lottery.

Assemblyman Garn Mabey, R-Las Vegas, pointed to an article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that said Georgia Lottery ticket sales were two and a half times higher in poor neighborhoods than affluent ones.

A report from the National Gambling Impact Study Commission found that players with incomes less than $10,000 bet nearly three times as much as those with incomes more than $50,000, he said.

He pointed to the slogans of different state lotteries, including New York's, which is "All you need is a dollar and a dream," and Illinois, which says the lottery "could be your way out."

"If we need to buy textbooks, let's buy them," he said.

Assemblyman William Horne, D-Las Vegas, said he's frustrated the Republicans shot down a creative idea to find more money for schools.

"They never want to increase (funding)," he said. "They don't ever have a problem when you hear countless stories all over the state of teachers dipping into their pockets to buy school supplies. It doesn't make sense to me."

Angle said she is willing to fund new textbooks, though, and she said she would support using state surplus money to do it.