[Balding_Eagle]

The solution here is so obvious I'm surprised the Libs haven't come up with it.

The Lottery winners are wealthy. It's THEIR fault that the children don't receive a 'fair share'.

Every Lottory winner should be punished by being forced into giving up 1/2 of his winnings.

It's 'for the children' after all.

[So Cal Rocket]

Seriously... I think you may have hit upon the solution...

Instead of running the schools share (~35%) of the lottery funds through the state school bureaucracy - give the additional 35% to the winner of the lottery with the stipulation that he/she must donate it the school/school district of their choice. This does several things:

1. Eliminates the siphoning of funds for administration of the lottery funds... the funds go directly to the school or the school district.

2. The school administrators will not be able to rely on receiving ANY funds, so they will have to budget assuming a lower funding level. Therefore, the additional lottery funds that may come to a school will be a windfall, and will actually make a difference... new computers, new books, facilities improvements, etc...

3. Lottery sales may go up. If people see that the lottery funds are ACTUALLY making a difference in the schools, then they may be more inclined to play.

SCR

[Fudd]

Every Lottory winner should be punished by being forced into giving up 1/2 of his winnings.

Every lotto winner does get punished by surrendering half his winnings (and then some). In my fair state, winners don't get the full $$- they either get it in 20 annual payments (if you die early, too bad), or a lump sum which is the present-value equivalent of the 20 payments invested at some interest rate (about half of the "jackpot"). Then they tax it.