Topic: The Lottery, How It is Beneficial, and Why Alabama Does Not Participate

General Goal: I want to inform my audience.

Specific Goal: I want to inform my audience about state lotteries so that they can learn the
financial benefits it creates.
Importance to Audience: A lottery can provide everyone in the audience with certain financial
benefits, especially when it comes to education.
Thesis: The lottery has provided participating states with extra revenue that provides benefits for
education, jobs, and even tax relief.
I. Introduction
A.) What is the lottery?
B.) Personal Experience-Attention Grabber (Has anyone played the lottery?)
II. Why Alabama Does Not Participate (From the New York Times)
A.) Last vote took place in 1999
1.) 54% against, 46% for
2.) Strong Christian argument (as was the case with Utah as well)
B.) Religion
1.) Lottery was almost guaranteed to be passed until religious groups stepped in
2.) Rev. Joe Bob Mizzell said no issue has united so many ministers from different
denominations
C.) Problems
1.) Players lose an average of 47 cents on the dollar
2.) Many people believe it preys on the lower class
3.) ODDS ARE AGAINST YOU
III. The Benefits
A.) Education!!
1.) Receives the largest amount of benefits from state lottery
2.) Scholarships (i.e. HOPE in Georgia), almost $6.4 Bil. has been awarded since 1993
3.) Funding for state K-12 schools (SC Education Lottery has provided $731 mil since
2002
B.) Jobs (More jobs is always great!)
1.) Georgia created 8,000 jobs from the lottery in 2006, has gone up from there
2.) Responsible for $342 million in personal income
C.) Even Possible Tax Relief
1.) Can raise funds without raising taxes (i.e. Wisconsin state legislature)
2.) Provided $2 bil worth of property tax relief from Wisconsin residents

Conclusion
You never know when another vote can come around to install a state lottey in Alabama.
Hopefully, I have provided enough information for you to be able to make your own choice.




















Works Cited
"The Revenue from State-Run Lotteries Benefits the States" by Blake Hart and Jonathan
Sofley. Legalized Gambling. David M. Haugen, Ed. Contemporary Issues Companion
Series. Greenhaven Press, 2006. Blake Hart and Jonathan Sofley, "State Lotteries
Are Needed," International Social Science Review, Spring/Summer 2004. Copyright
2004 by Phi Gamma Mu. Reproduced by permission.

"Voters in Alabama Soundly Defeat State Lottery." The New York Times. The New York
Times, 12 Oct. 1999. Web. 15 Sept. 2014.