Lottery opponents vow to work to delay and limit the state lottery in the next legislative session. No matter. Power Ball should be with us come January 2010. I know how I’m going to spend mine.
UPDATE: I note some press accounts with higher ed types slavering over expected new money. A touch hypocritical, since higher ed folks didn’t exactly beat the drum for the lottery. Only former UA chancellor John White, the UALR Board of Visitors and Clinton School Dean Skip Rutherford took public positions in support.
But never mind the hypocrites. THIS ISN’T THEIR MONEY. The money isn’t likely to go to colleges. If other states are a guide, a commission of some sort will oversee this program, I hope. And it will be spent in direct scholarship aid to students, not a slush fund for colleges. This, it occurs to me, is another downside of the lottery. Financially empowered students might create an escalation of college marketing wars to lure them. Good for newspapers, TV stations, etc. Not likely to make legislators happy.
This is going to be an exciting implementation process. Will Lt. Gov. Bill Halter be given any sort of meaningful role in delivery of his baby? That, too, will be interesting, given his less-than-warm relationship with the legislature.