The Georgia Lottery: Assessing Its Administrative, Economic, and Political Effects

Abstract

This article examines the Georgia lottery as a “policy laboratory” and its potential effect on state‐level policy diffusion. The authors summarize an extensive research project they directed that included a survey of every state that offers a lottery, a general population survey of Georgia citizen attitudes toward the lottery, and results from an economic model summarizing the economic effects of the lottery. The analysis reveals that the Georgia lottery has been a significant source of revenue for the state's budget and operates in an administratively cost‐effective manner. The analysis also confirms the conventional wisdom that lower‐income households spend a greater proportionate share of their income on the lottery and that African Americans are more frequent players than whites. Furthermore, the Georgia lottery enjoys broad public support, the key to which appears to be the earmarking of lottery funds to specific, new, popular education programs. However, the data reveal that those educational programs promulgated by the Georgia lottery benefit citizens from both high and low socioeconomic status. Finally, the article suggests that lottery‐generated funds may reach a plateau or peak during the first decade of implementation and that state policymakers should design lottery‐funded programs accordingly.

State‐Funded College Scholarships: General Definitions and Characteristics

“…Political support for the Georgia lottery, for example, comes from its link with the education system. Georgia residents believe that the lottery creates jobs and educational opportunities, which makes it a particularly attractive means of financing a large‐scale educational program (McCrary & Condrey, 2003). However, using a lottery to pay for scholarships is criticized as regressive in nature.…”

The role institutional research plays in navigating the current economic uncertainty

“…This resulted in a decrease of approximately $1.7 million in payments made to the KEES scholarship reserve fund for 2007 (Commonwealth of Kentucky, 2007). McCrary and Condrey (2003) suggest "that lottery-generated funds may reach a plateau or peak during the first decade of implementation and that state policymakers should design lottery-funded programs accordingly" (p. 691). In fact, states including New Hampshire, Arizona, Florida, and Tennessee have reported a decline in lottery sales for the first quarter of the 2008 fiscal year.…”

Measuring the Impact of Lotteries on State per Pupil Expenditures for Education: Assessing the National Evidence

“…In a recent study Mccrary and Condrey (2003) report that the Georgia lottery has been a significant source of revenue for the state's budget and operates in an administratively cost‐effective manner. Their analysis also confirms the conventional wisdom that lower‐income households spend a greater proportionate share of their income on the lottery and that African Americans are more frequent players than whites.…”