Bad Roll
The governor's proposed bill to run lotteries (plus) in Alaska is snake eyes in my book. There's no question Alaska needs diverse revenue measures. But this idea is like stepping out in front of a bus to pick up 50 cents in the gutter.
The many other states who've tried lotteries as a revenue idea give us all the evidence we need: a lottery acts as a tax on the poor. And it preys on people with gambling addictions. The last thing our state needs is another addiction problem adding to public costs.
Then there's the economic impact of wringing more money out of low-income Alaskans (who tend to spend it in our local economies) than anyone else. That means lottery revenue would hurt the economy more than other forms of tax.
The Department of Revenue doesn't estimate a lottery could bring anything near enough money to fill the budget gap. Though they do expect we'd get more revenue if we used more habit-forming games. That may help explain why the bill says a "lottery" is whatever the proposed new board says it is: like video casino terminals, or animated roulette.
And how much would it cost to set up this new operation? The estimate is $3 million in cash but then the brand-new board would have to borrow the (indeterminate) rest.
Alaska needs revenue. But not at the cost of a new, expensive addiction crisis that targets the most vulnerable Alaskans. And not at the price of $3 million+ just to debt-finance a tax on people who are bad at math.
