North Carolina Lottery is a Go

Aug 6, 2005, 10:45 am (22 comments)

North Carolina Lottery

Residents of the Tar Heel state will finally get a lottery, under terms worked out by the state's House and Senate Friday.

The final budget plan allows North Carolina to start a lottery, advertise it, and spend the profits on teachers, school buildings, and scholarships for the needy.

The compromise between House and Senate plans for a lottery virtually ensures that North Carolina will start a state numbers game during the next year. The lottery was the last disputed issue between the House and Senate in budget negotiations.

The lawmakers, said Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, even included a special lottery rule: No ticket may feature the likeness of any current or former elected official.

Lawmakers likely will get a copy of the compromise budget by Monday evening, and House Speaker Jim Black promised members a day to digest the phonebook-size document. Under that schedule, the budget would be up for the first of two votes in each chamber on Wednesday. The $17 billion-plus spending plan is more than a month overdue.

"It's something we think will be acceptable to a majority" of the legislature, said Rand, a Fayetteville Democrat who helped forge the lottery deal.

Under the lottery plan, no more than 1 percent of revenue can be spent on advertising, and the ads must avoid themes that appeal to children. The odds of winning must be clearly publicized. The odds of winning, for example, South Carolina's "Hot Lotto" grand prize are 1 in 11 million, while the Powerball grand prize odds are 1 in 120 million.

Five percent of proceeds goes toward creating a $50 million reserve fund in case lottery revenues dip. Of the remaining money, 50 percent goes to reduce class sizes in elementary schools and fund the state's pre-kindergarten program, 40 percent pays to build new schools and 10 percent bankrolls college scholarships for the poor.

The Senate will still have to take a separate vote after passing the budget to actually enact the lottery. It will take several months to appoint a lottery board, hire a director and staff and start operations.

"It's not likely any tickets will be sold this calendar year," Rand said.

The budget would increase the cigarette tax from a nickel a pack to 30 cents per pack on Sept. 1 and to 35 cents per pack next July 1. The boost means North Carolina will shed its status of imposing the lowest tax on smokes in the nation and will pass that title to South Carolina, which charges tax of 7 cents per pack.

Senate leaders argued for taking the tax to 40 cents per pack this year, but a group of tobacco country Democrats in the House tamped down that figure.

The tax on liquor, satellite TV, telephone service, cable TV and candy bars rises to 7 percent (7.5 percent in Mecklenburg) to help create a more uniform tax rate and join a state-to-state effort to tax Internet sales. Most of those goods and services are currently taxed at 5 percent or 6 percent.

State employees would get a 2 percent pay raise or $850, whichever is greater, plus an extra week's vacation. Teachers would receive 2.24 percent, though Gov. Mike Easley would have the power, after consulting the legislature, to raise their salaries further. Democratic leaders said they are trying to address the state's failure to keep up with the national average on teacher pay after working for several years to get there.

"We've slipped somewhat," said Sen. Kay Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat and budget committee chair.

Other key components of the budget include:

  • UNC Chapel Hill and N.C. State University will not get authority to independently raise their tuition. A Senate proposal let them bypass the UNC system board of governors.
  • Corporations and the state's top income earners do not get a tax cut, as the Senate originally proposed.
  • UNC Charlotte gets $5 million this year and $10 million next year toward establishing a doctoral program. Johnson & Wales University gets another $1 million, for a total of $3 million, toward the $10 million they were promised for opening a campus in Charlotte.
  • Kindergartners will be required to get an eye exam before starting school, and the state will provide $2 million for children not covered by insurance or government programs.

Charlotte Observer and Lottery Post Staff

Comments

Tenaj's avatarTenaj

It is about time!  Hooray! from a North Carolinian.

 

Tenaj (Janet)

Litebets27's avatarLitebets27

Congratulations North Carolina. I always look forward to stopping at rest stops and /or convienent stores on my way down south for vacation. I always pick-up a lottery ticket or scratch off along the way. It was always a bomber when I'd stop somewhere and they would look at me, kind of crazy like and state "we don't have lottery here." This will complete the fun of a long distant trip. WTG annd LOL.

litebets

PrisonerSix

Congratulations NC!  It's about time.

I sometimes travel to NC for work and when I'm there, I will probably buy tickets if the games are good.  Since we already have Powerball in Louisiana, that won't interest me much, but other games might.  Good luck NC!

PrisonerSix

Tnplayer805's avatarTnplayer805

It said SC had Hot Lotto????  What the heck are they talking about?  SC has Cash 5,Pick 3&4, and powerball.  That's it.

Just6ntlc

Congratulations to North Carolina joining the lottery especially for Powerball and Hot Lotto. It's about time some states join multi-state games. In fact, the odds of winnning the Powerball jackpot is 1 in 146 million versus the PB population of all 28 states, D.C., and the Virgin Islands of about 96 million. Good luck to them and all PB states.

ccbrown33's avatarccbrown33

Yes its, about time... Now I can play in my own state...

donaldbst

it's about time. This state is the last to get anything done.

 

 

I Agree!                      Party

JimmySand9

It's about bloody time. North Carolina has really been incomplete without a lottery, and now they're getting one.

And on an unrelated note, this is yet another example of why you should check your facts. South Carolina does not have, and will not have, Hot Lotto. Lotto South maybe, but not Hot Lotto. 

JimmySand9

<Article> "It's something we think will be acceptable to a majority" of the legislature, said Rand, a Fayetteville Democrat who helped forge the lottery deal.

<Jimmy> Well duh. Ask anyone, and 9 out of 10 times they'll say they play the lottery or want to play.

 

<Article> Under the lottery plan, no more than 1 percent of revenue can be spent on advertising, and the ads must avoid themes that appeal to children.

<Jimmy> New York has real trouble with that. They constantly use cartoon animals on their scratch-offs, and you know that appeals to children. A lot of other states have done that too. North Carolina was smart in including that rule.

 

<Article>"It's not likely any tickets will be sold this calendar year," Rand said.

<Jimmy> Better late than never.

GottaBLucky's avatarGottaBLucky

FINALLY!!! FINALLY!!! FINALLY!!! It's way over due.  Now I can stop driving an hour to VA. and 1-1/2 to S.C.  Less money on gas . . . . More money to play lottery!!! Yes Nod

Hyper    Dance

 

GOTTA B IN IT TO WIN IT!!!!

Rip Snorter

The quote's about legislators, Jimmy.  Not people.  Legislators.  That's who it will be acceptable to, the guy says. 

The issue's about whether the legislature will approve it, not about whether 'people' want it (people being them as you are speaking of when you say, "Ask anyone, and 9 out of 10 times they'll say they play the lottery or want to play.")

The year I got out of the Army there was a big move to try to get the county I lived in 'wet' so we didn't have to buy from bootleggers or drive all the way to Clovis (nearest 'wet' town) and come back snockered..... but in front of the bars over in Clovis you'd see all these Roosevelt County license tags and bumper stickers, "For My Family I'll Vote DRY".

People don't always know what they want.  Sometimes they want one thing at one level, and something else at another level.

Then again, sometimes they want one thing, but want people to believe they want something else.

Same with legislators.

Jack

jporter
I noticed the article on N.C. lottery did not say how the pot
 was to be divided as to what goes to winnings and what goes
to the state.Jester
Chewie
I noticed the article on N.C. lottery did not say how the pot
 was to be divided as to what goes to winnings and what goes
to the state.Jester

Should help the PB supporters.

I couldn't help but notice it jumped around $10M this draw - yet MM has been laggin' after the last draw didn't work out for CA. Last draw they jumped $10M every draw; $20M a week. This time they are back to the way it was before CA joined.  Now that the CA Supper Lotto has been hit, maybe they concentrate on MM and make another resident on another state rich(er).

ryanm

  Mega Millions jumped $9 million last draw.  I wouldn't call that a bad jump for the jackpot being only $41 million now.

Subscribe to this news story