During their meeting on Tuesday afternoon, The Memphis City Council passed a resolution supporting a lottery in Tennessee. The resolution was brought forth by council member Myron Lowery.
Council member Barbara Swearengen Holt abstained from the vote, Brent Taylor voted against the resolution, Janet P. Hooks was absent and Jack Sammons and Pat Vander Schaaf did not cast a vote. All other council members supported the resolution.
The resolution by the council is simply a symbolic gesture stating that they support the idea of a lottery in the state. The resolution does not determine whether there will be a lottery in Tennessee. On Nov. 5, voters will decide whether Tennessee will have a state lottery.
In a recent poll, 55 percent of individuals in Tennessee stated that they support a state lottery. This percentage is down from the 69 percent in support on September 2000 and the 59 percent in June 2000.
Council member Lowery, who was elected to the council in 1991 as the first African-American to be elected at-large, is in support of a state lottery.
Lowery supports the lottery because he believes the state needs new sources of revenue.
“Tennessee is an island in the midst of other states with these opportunities,” Lowery said.
Currently, 38 have a lottery in place and 30 have casinos.
Lowery said that the state lottery would help ease the burden of the high cost of education.
The resolution states, “The proceeds will be used to support improvements and enhancements to education including providing tuition, grants and scholarships, loans to enable citizens to attend colleges and universities, capital projects for educational facilities, and early learning, after-school and technology programs.”
The Gambling Free Tennessee Alliance is in opposition to a state lottery. The organization believes that a state lottery will do more harm than good.
“When people find out that not one penny will go to buy a school book, or to raise a teacher’s salary, for scholarships, or to prevent an income tax, or lower a sales tax, they are less inclined to vote,” said Steve Brumfield, spokesman for The Gambling Free Tennessee Alliance.
Brumfield added that the resolution does not allow the revenue from the lottery to be placed in the general fund of the state.
The Alliance noted that there are many negative habits that arise in gambling states. Brumfield said a state lottery can lead to individuals becoming compulsive gamblers, and families are destroyed because of bankruptcy and divorce.
Brumfield stated that the lottery is presented as a package that will save the people of Tennessee from a new budget crisis and new taxes.
The Alliance is raising money to produce TV ads in opposition to the state support of the lottery.
Lowery believes the lottery will help keep money in the state that leaves to other states like Missouri, which has power ball.
Voters will make their decision on Nov. 5.
