A professor and an activist debated the implementation of a state lottery on campus Wednesday.
The McWherter Learning Resources Center hosted the dialogue, which featured Roger Abramson, an active member of Gambling Free Tennessee Alliance, and lottery supporter Bill Ford, an MTSU professor of finance. John Vile, head of the political science department, moderated the debate.
Vile began the debate by explaining how voting to change the Tennessee constitution works.
"To change the Tennessee constitution, a vote has to win by a majority of the number of people who voted for governor, which means that if you vote for governor and you do not vote on these other two issues, you are effectively voting against it," Vile explained.
"Tennessee is not a gambling-free state," Ford said. Ford explained that he has done research, which suggested Tennesseans already spend more than $1 billion each year on gambling.
He found that there were four ways people in Tennessee gambled: they went to casinos in other states, gambled via the Internet, bought lottery tickets at gas stations by driving across state lines and illegal gambling, which was especially prevalent in poorer neighborhoods.
Ford argues that scholarship money from the lottery could equal $6 to 12 million for MTSU each year.
"That means our students will have less debt because they will get scholarships," he said. "They can work less hours to pay for their tuition, they will have more time to study and they will graduate sooner."
Ford remarked that, if the lottery was voted in by the majority, it would be the choice of each person whether he or she would pay.
"The lottery is a tax," Ford said, "but the beautiful thing about it ... is that it's the only tax you pay where you decide whether or not you want to give 35 cents of every dollar to higher education."
Abramson opened by admitting that, while there are reasons to vote for the lottery, "We [GFTA] submit that there are many more reasons to vote against the lottery."
He pointed out that people play the lottery to win, but that the odds of winning are 1 in 1,000 in a game of pick three with a prize of only $500. According to Abramson, the University of Tennessee has the same chance of winning the national championship.
He then said that many people are for the lottery because the state needs the money or because it would mean more money for education.
The money from the lottery would not go into the general state budget, only to higher education. K-12 would only get any money that was left over, which is likely to be a rather insignificant amount, according to Abramson.
Abramson also points out that the money would go to school facilities, such as buildings. None of the money would go into teachers' salaries or school supplies, which is what many people believe.
"No one can run this but the government," Amramson said, noting the fact that, because the lottery would be the only form of legal gambling in the state, there would be no competition in the market to administer the lottery.
Abramson would rather see all forms of gambling allowed in the state than have the only form allowed be run by the government.
Both Ford and Abramson encouraged students to vote tomorrow.
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