The lottery is a good idea because 35 percent of the proceeds will be going to education programs. Since this will increase our education budget, we can have more up-to-date technology, support all athletic and academic teams, all school-related clubs and some non-school related activities like supporting fund-raisers and religious groups.

The lottery may possibly keep state taxes from increasing in the future. With some of the profits going to the government, a lot of money will help our state taxes decrease. Just over 30 percent of the winnings go to the net state revenue and 4.4 percent goes to the state/local tax loss, which means a total of 34.4 percent of a person’s winnings will go to help our state’s economy.

One concern regarding the lottery may be that it teaches children the wrong message about gambling. However, children already know about the lottery and gambling from states close by. Many parents gamble, so if the wrong message was going to be sent to children, it has already been sent.

In the past, many have traveled to other states close by to buy lottery tickets, giving other states revenue. Now that N.C. has a lottery of its own, it will keep money in our state instead of it being spent elsewhere and helping out other states instead of our own.

Some people may not like the lottery for fear that it will promote bad morals and gambling for people in North Carolina. Joining the military, voting, buying tobacco and many other privileges are all given at the age of 18, which is the official age that you become an adult. If 18-year-olds are percieved to be mature enough to have these rights, then a simple lottery ticket should not be an issue for anyone.

The 40 states that gamble with the lottery are doing just fine economically, so what’s the big deal about following a positive change to this state? It’s about time that North Carolinians saw that the lottery will bring positive results to our state’s income and keep it up-to-date with neighboring states. North Carolina is the last state on the East Coast to get a state lottery. It’s better late than never.