Texas House Considers Adding Slot Machines To State Lottery
Lawmakers in Austin are thinking about adding slot machines to the state`s lottery system. But some people worry that more gambling would take its toll on people with low incomes.
A study done at Texas Tech discovered that people with low incomes and low levels of education gamble the most.
Those who support expanding the lottery say it will help fund state programs like education.
Three-point-five billion dollars` worth of lottery tickets were sold in Texas last year, $1 billion of that went to public schools.
"I think we see it as ways to fund education, fund some of the economic initiatives that we have, but in the long run, what we`re doing is hurting everybody," says George Kamisky, an addiction expert at Tech.
State Representatives Carl Isett, (R)-Lubbock, and Delwin Jones, (R)-Lubbock, say the state lottery shouldn`t be expanded. They say the government should find other ways to control its budget.
