| This morning the members of Stop Predatory Gambling sent a letter to leaders in all states with lotteries (The Wall Street Journal ran a story on it in Monday’s edition.) The letter called on them to shut down all lottery gambling games for 30 days as hundreds of billions of dollars in direct federal financial relief is delivered to American families across the nation. Luring citizens to lose their money on lottery gambling games during this time defeats the intended purpose of the stimulus.
Here’s the letter we sent to all governors and attorneys general.
Below is the press release we sent to media across the U.S.
Please share it with your email and social media lists as well as any contacts you have in your state or local media. Thanks.
Best,
Les Bernal
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Les Bernal
April 20, 2020 (202) 567-6996 │ les@stoppredatorygambling.org
STATE LEADERS CALLED ON TO SHUT DOWN LOTTERY FOR 30 DAYS AS RELIEF CHECKS ARRIVE
“Facts Show Many Citizens Gamble on the Lottery to Change Their Financial Condition and Even More So When They Are Feeling a Sense of Desperation”
(WASHINGTON, DC) — As hundreds of billions of dollars in direct federal financial relief are delivered to American families across the nation, state leaders are being called upon to shut down the marketing and selling of all state lottery gambling games for 30 days. All U.S. casinos have already been shut down for weeks.
“Federal tax dollars are being sent to American families in order to put food on the table, make rent or mortgage payments, or provide for other daily necessities – not to subsidize state lotteries,” said Les Bernal of Stop Predatory Gambling, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit who sent a letter on Monday to all governors and attorneys general serving in states with lotteries. “For lotteries to continue running when so many citizens are financially desperate is like putting Dracula in charge of the emergency room blood bank.”
Bernal said there is a mountain of facts showing many citizens gamble on the lottery to change their financial condition, and even more so when they are feeling a sense of desperation. Yet state government is continuing to market its lottery gambling games at the very same moment that citizens are receiving their economic relief checks from the U.S. Treasury.
As part of its letter to state officials, Stop Predatory Gambling included its 2020 Briefing on State Lotteries also issued on Monday.
“The report spotlighted lotteries as one of the root causes why more than 60% of Americans had less than $1000 in savings before the coronavirus pandemic occurred.”
The report found “state governments have turned a nation of small earners, who could be small savers, into a nation of habitual gamblers on course to lose more than $1 trillion of wealth to government-sanctioned gambling over the next eight years. At least half of this wealth – $500 billion – will be lost to state lotteries.” Bernal hopes the lottery shutdown and the new report will bring sorely-needed attention to “America’s most-neglected problem today.”
“Building assets and the accumulating and investing of savings, are the keys to financial peace,” Bernal said. “A home, a college fund, retirement accounts, a stock portfolio—these assets are the hallmarks of middle and upper-class America, and they are all the result of savings. Creating wealth by the accumulation and investment of savings is the direct opposite of what state lotteries represent and encourage.”
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STATE LOTTERY SALES SOAR THE SAME WEEK FEDERAL RELIEF CHECKS ARRIVE
New Report Adds More Urgency to Call for State Lotteries to Suspend Operations for 30 Days! April 23, 2020
A report this morning by The Houston Chronicle’s Eric Dexheimer revealed that instant scratch-off lottery ticket sales soared at the same time as hundreds of billions of dollars in direct federal financial relief was being delivered to American families across the nation.
The members of Stop Predatory Gambling renewed our call for state officials to suspend lottery operations for 30 days. We issued the press release below to media across the U.S. Please share it with your email and social media lists as well as any contacts you have in your state or local media.
(HOUSTON, TX) — A report this morning by The Houston Chronicle’s Eric Dexheimer revealed that instant scratch-off lottery ticket sales soared at the same time as hundreds of billions of dollars in direct federal financial relief was being delivered to American families across the nation. The news intensified calls for state officials to suspend lottery operations for 30 days amid a time when all U.S. casinos have already been shut down for weeks.
According to The Chronicle report:
“On Tuesday afternoon, the Texas Lottery released what appeared to be great news: sales of instant scratch-off tickets, by far its largest source of revenue, had surged from the previous week, jumping to $112 million dollars.
The leap came after a month of plunging sales, presumably due to the sputtering pandemic economy, in which revenues had dropped compared to the same periods in 2019. The April 18 weekly figures, by comparison, outpaced the same week in 2019 by more than $15 million – a 16 percent jump.”
The members of Stop Predatory Gambling, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit, renewed their call for state officials to suspend lottery operations for 30 days. On Monday morning, the group sent a letter to all governors and attorneys general serving in states with lotteries to take action.
“State lotteries are openly preying upon the financial desperation of millions of Americans,” said Les Bernal, a spokesman for the organization. “The lottery had a 16% spike in scratch ticket sales over the same week last year, in the middle of a stay-at-home order, during an unprecedented pandemic.
This news is a shame on all of us. State and local government officials in any capacity must listen to and act on their conscience to stop this exploitation of our brothers and sisters.”
Bernal said there is a mountain of facts highlighting that many citizens gamble on the lottery to change their financial condition, and even more so when they are feeling a sense of desperation.
Stop Predatory Gambling’s 2020 Briefing on State Lotteries identified lotteries as why more than 60% of Americans had less than $1000 in savings before the coronavirus pandemic occurred.
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Stop Predatory Gambling – – Who We Are —
– A 501c3 nonprofit based in Washington, DC, we are a national social reform network of individuals and partner groups with members of more than 1 million people.
– We believe in improving the lives of the American people with compassion and fairness, freeing us from the lower standard of living, exploitation, and fraud that commercialized gambling spreads.
– We are one of the most diverse organizations in the United States, one in which conservatives and progressives work side-by-side to improve the common good.
What We Stand For —
– We believe everyone should have a fair opportunity to get ahead and improve their future.
– We believe every person’s life has worth and that no one is expendable.
– We believe that a good society depends on the values of honesty, concern for others, mutual trust, self-discipline, sacrifice, and a work ethic that connects effort and reward.
– We believe no government body should depend on predatory gambling to fund its activities.
If you share our beliefs, please help sustain our work by making a tax-deductible, financial gift today of $10 or more. |
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