It also gives the constituency of North Carolina the opportunity to rethink their own feelings for or against the lottery by weighing the pros and cons of mandating such legislation. The majority of North Carolinians want the lottery in this state, but have they really contemplated the elaborate factors surrounding that decision?

Most people who openly voice their support for a lottery in the state, from everyday people to newspaper editorial boards to state representatives, follow the same talking points that the lottery revenue North Carolina loses to surrounding states, could be generated here for funding of the public school system for our children.

The reality is, most people want the lottery here so they don’t have to travel to another state for the chance to win millions of dollars.

But what it actually does for North Carolinians is open a possible Pandora’s Box replete with problems that funding our public schools won’t solve.

Right now, school systems assert that building funds are inadequate to meet the necessities of growth and modernization. Yet, it has not been explained whether our legislators will keep existing building funds in the school budgets or are they going to extinguish those funds if and when lottery revenue starts pouring in, of which 50% is reportedly going to fund building costs.

Some people have the misguided belief that because lottery revenue will be generated specifically to help fund public school system operational budgets, they will have a lessened burden of taxation which will eventually lead to tax cuts. Remember, the old lady in the woods offering Snow White the shiny red apple wasn’t doing so out of a concern for her caloric intake!

Take, for example, what Eddie Davis, president of the North Carolina Association of Educators teacher’s union, wrote about the lottery: "NCAE has taken the position that there are plenty of new school programs that could be provided if North Carolina were to establish its own lottery." You caught that, right? He supports the lottery, not because it will help fund school systems, but because he’s already counting all the ‘new programs’ that can be created.

Another major issue concerns the possible escalation in gambling. Members of the Senate are focusing on video poker and online gambling which would give uncontrolled access of gambling to children. The biggest proponent for video poker has been Speaker of the House Jim Black (D-Meck), the same man who, caught in the middle of a scandal, pushed the lottery legislation through the House in only a week and a half.

Will the bane of sheriff’s departments across the state be far behind as the next important revenue generating gambit passed by our elected representatives for financing our public schools? Don’t dismiss it as improbable. Remember, several Representatives either changed their minds on supporting the lottery or have openly admitted their reservations even though they still voted in favor of it.

Ultimately, there is one aspect of the whole lottery issue that is the most grave to many of us, especially if you are fiscally conservative.

In the state of South Carolina, millions of dollars of revenue that came about through their ‘education lottery’ and has been spent funding education, yet hasn’t produced positive results throughout their public school system. At the very least, they have one advantage North Carolinians don’t.

Their governmental budgetary process is regulated, for the most part, by conservative Republicans who understand the fundamental discipline of controlled spending. North Carolina, on the other hand, is administrated by tax and spend liberal Democrats who have yet to find a reason to cut spending in lieu of raising taxes.

Just remember, whether or not you support the lottery, the ones who hold the key to opening the box, control the dissemination of it’s contents. Be wary of what you wish for, someone may win millions, but the rest of us will pay the costs.