Dear Ron, Hello old friend! I know its been a long time since our last conversation. How have you been doing since we last spoke? How are the kids? As for me, I have been doing great! I have also been thinking about what we talked about the last time you were in town. Remember when we were debating on how the government should pass the bill to permit a state lottery and casinos in our great state of Alabama? I strongly believe that passing this bill will benefit Alabama. A state lottery could bring a lot of money into Alabama. It could perhaps be one of the solutions to Alabama’s financial problems. Alabama’s General Fund budget is facing at least a $250 million deficit next year, according to the Montgomery Advertiser. Senator Pro Tem Del …show more content…
One option is to put aside a portion of lottery ticket sales and put it towards the state education budget while the rest of the money goes toward the jackpot. Many other states have already adopted this plan. The numbers from payouts of lotteries to schools is pretty impressive. In California, lottery donations to public schools from kindergarten to twelfth grade have totaled about $19.3 billion since 1985. That’s a lot of money! Imagine how much better it would be for our schools if Alabama adopted this plan. Also, the state lottery could allow for scholarships in Alabama for the ones who deserve it. For example, in Georgia, if a college student has a 3.0 GPA they receive a full scholarship to a state school in Georgia. That would be awesome! Studying hard, getting good grades, and earning a free education as a result. Don’t you …show more content…
Run by and administered by the appropriate people, the money can be used for infrastructure development, public safety, and public health care. I don’t know about you, but I think our capital city, Montgomery, has a lot of room for improvement in downtown. If only we had the funds, we could development finer buildings and attractions. Also in California, they offer free health care! Alabama as well as the whole US would already be a better place with free health care. With all these benefits other states get from the state lottery, it is surprising that Alabama, and states such as Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming haven’t adopted it. The answer is simple, really, as to why other states already have – money! Although the odds of winning are 1 in 259 million, it still gives people a hope that it can happen for anyone. Instead of bringing our money to the borderline to buy tickets, we would be keeping that money in state and be able to buy the lottery right here, at
A weakness in Jiménez’s essay stands out in the first sentence when she begins her essay with, “State-run lotteries are now so common – thirty-nine states and Washington, D.C., operate lotteries – the states will probably never get out of the lottery business” (118). By including that in the beginning of her essay, Jiménez implies that her audience is not the state government, instead it is intended for the common citizen. Therefore, we can conclude that the main purpose of the essay is not stopping the lottery, because that would not be reasonable; instead it is to make people aware that the states are taking advantage of them in the lottery business.
The money the lottery provides is lower than many think.Some people say that they are because all state’s give some money to education.But that is only
The following two paragraphs are a summary of Gloria Jimenez's essay Against the Odds and Against the Common Good. States should neither allow nor encourage state-run lotteries. There are five major arguments that people use to defend lotteries. One is that most lotteries are run honestly, but if gambling is harmful to society it is irrelevant to argue if they are honest or not. The second is that lotteries create jobs, but there are only a small handful of jobs that would be eliminated if lotteries were put out of business. Another argument that would support keeping lotteries is that, other than gambling addicts, people freely choose to buy lottery tickets. This is true, however, there are misleading advertisements that may cause people to buy tickets under false pretenses.
“Why We Keep Playing the Lottery”, by freelance journalist Adam Piore takes a very in depth look as to what drives millions of Americans to continually play the lottery when their chances of winning are virtually non-existent. He believes that because the odds of winning the lottery are so small that Americans lose the ability to conceptualize how unlikely it is that they are going to win, and therefore the risk of playing has less to do with the outcome, and more to do with hope that they are feeling when they decide to play. It 's essentially, "a game where reason and logic are rendered obsolete, and hope and dreams are on sale." (Piore 700) He also states that many Americans would rather play the lottery thinking ,"boy, I could win $100 million" (705) as opposed to thinking about all of the money they could lose over time.
Texas, the Big State that I heard so much about while living in Europe. When people in my country think of the United States of America, Texas comes to mind automatically. So, what is it about this state that makes it so popular, even overseas? Certainly, people associate Texas with cowboys and the place where everything is bigger by definition. However, to better understand such state, it is fundamental to put more emphasis in how it works. In other words, how it was created, and how it is governed.
Confederate Racism The Confederate flag is a famous symbol of the South’s involvement in the American Civil War. The controversy surrounding this flag has received a great bit of media attention considering how deeply affected and offended some people have become. Southerners consider themselves personally affected. A majority of supporters state that banning the Confederate flag strips them of their heritage, referring to the South’s part in the American Civil War.
What started as a war to prevent the South from seceding quickly turned into a war against slavery following President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. At the start of the Civil War, both Union and Confederate sides believed that they would had a quick and decisive victory. The North’s population and industry was vastly greater than the South’s, but the South had superior military leadership, a large white population that was united against invading Union armies and a hope that France or Britain would intervene on their behalf.
However, the community as a whole has not abandoned the lottery, so while Mr. Adams and likely others may be considering it, in general the population supports it.
This includes all forms of income from high to low and all races from black to white. A more financially set adult will spend more money gambling then the “minority and poor populations” as Will explains them. If these so called poor populations have no money will they be the ones flying all the way to Vegas spending money on gas, food, hotel, and entertainment? I think not the ones gambling are those who make a good living and can afford to spend thousands of dollars in Las Vegas. One thing all people can agree there is not a person out there that would wish to be average their whole life, everyone wants to be able to retire knowing they have money to send their kids to college or to even buy luxury items. This hope of one day winning it big is the reason people get up each day only to work long and hard hours at work as well as at home. People don’t just quit their job because they lost the lottery they will work many more days to buy a ticket and hope to win only to try again and again. People need something they can look forward to work hard and achieve things never done before and the lottery provides this for them. You take this away and the hard-working people no longer have anything to look forward to, nothing stops them from going out and doing
Everyday, there are a lot of people who play lottery in Texas. Is the lottery a good idea? Can we get happiness from winning the lottery? There are more questions to be considered concerning to the lottery. In this paper, I will write about the Texas Lottery Commission, and how it was established, its purpose, the organization and the current leader.
The boom of mining iron ore, coal, and limestone and producing iron in north Alabama during the 1800s had a tremendous impact on Alabama’s economy of the time. It provided opportunity for the expansion of the railroad and work. Cities were born around this industrial boom. All of these things encouraged economic growth in Alabama during this time.
For this reason it is essential to eliminate funding inequalities all students deserve a high quality education especially in the low-income areas. Providing more money to these areas can reduce crime and gang activity, lower the teen birth rate, restore self-confidence, provide these students and opportunity to attend college, also break the cycle of poverty. The President “Race to the Top Program” is a start but more need to be done from the local and state level.
Even if the state pays a lot of money, that still doesn’t mean that the schools are well funded. In Hawaii, there is only one school district, and the state pays for nearly all of that district’s funding. Only 2% comes from property tax, and the rest comes out of income tax. But think about the industry in Hawaii- farming and tourism, t...
The way the characters present themselves in the beginning of the story puts an optimistic view on the lottery. After all, lotteries are generally associated with an increase of wealth and prosperity. The outcome of the scenario seems promising. The town’s people gather with zeal. One character, Mrs. Hutchinson, rushes to make it to the lottery on time. This reassures the reader that the lottery is a must-see event. Another character, Old Man Warner, states that the other towns were crazy for giving up the lottery. With this being said, obviously something good was to come out of the contest. The reader does not suspect the tragedy that lies in the end of the story.
From the time the Europeans first landed on the Atlantic shore, lotteries have been a part of the American society. According to Will Spink, most states are currently operating a state lottery despite its bleak history in the U.S. (Spink 1). Since 1983, North Carolina has introduced lottery bills in the legislature every year (NC Christian 15). North Carolina Governor, Mike Easley, favors a lottery for increasing revenues for education (Analysis 2). However lucrative state lotteries appear on the surface, they create even more moral and financial difficulties for citizens, and this should encourage states to look at other means of resources instead of legalized gambling.