"Gambling on the Future: Should California Privatize the State Lottery?" is our site of the day

The California Budget Project (CBP) has released this afternoon an interesting and timely report, "Gambling on the Future: Should California Privatize the State Lottery?" that in 5 well written pages answers the questions:

• Where Did the Lottery Come from and What Does It Support?

• Is the Lottery Underperforming?

• Maximizing Lottery Revenues: Who Will Buy the Tickets?

• Does California Need to Privatize the Lottery to Maximize Sales?

• Would public schools benefit from increased lotteryrevenues and by how much?

• What changes might a private contractor wish to implement in order to maximize lottery sales and how would those changes interact with tribal gaming compacts and existing law?

In conjunction with his May Revision to the 2007-08 Proposed Budget, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed to lease the state lottery to a private contractor. The CBP report findings include:

• Any attempt to boost lottery sales would implicitly increase the amount that low-income Californians-- who already pay the largest share of their income for state and local taxes--pay for public services, since lower income households disproportionately purchase lottery tickets;

• Increased lottery sales would likely lead to a reduction in state sales tax revenues and other revenues attributable to consumer purchases; and

• Despite the Governor’s promise that a long-term lottery lease would maintain support for education at present levels, it is unclear whether potential increases in lottery sales would generate additional funding for schools.

Nice weekend reading as we head into budget week in the Capitol.