North Carolina Proposal Would Ban Welfare Recipients From Buying Lottery Tickets

[The Straight Story]

North Carolina lawmakers have drafted legislation that would ban welfare recipients and people in bankruptcy from buying lottery tickets in the state, according to several news reports.

The bill draft would punish vendors for selling lottery tickets to someone who they know is on welfare or in bankruptcy, according to ABC 11 in Raleigh. The lawmakers behind it believe it's counterproductive for the government to accept money from welfare recipients who are struggling to get by.

"We're giving them welfare to help them live, and yet by selling them a ticket, we're taking away their money that is there to provide them the barest of necessities," state House Majority Leader Rep. Paul "Skip" Stam (R), who is helping draft the bill, told ABC 11. Stam added that the lottery "is essentially a scam," the news outlet reported. Stam also said that some of the North Carolina lottery advertising is "just fraudulent," according to the Raleigh News & Observer.

Some lottery critics claim that the lottery is a tax on the poor, the uneducated, and the elderly, who are more likely to buy lottery tickets. For example, the poorest counties in North Carolina have the highest spending per capita on lottery tickets, according to North Carolina Policy Watch (via Business Insider).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/26/welfare-lottery-ban_n_2552885.html?utm_hp_ref=business

[Uben]

1. Do they tell corporations how to spend their welfare?

Hell no, so why do they feel they have the right to tell anyone else to? Hypocritical mutherfucking pieces of shit.

[LeftofObama]

2. ^^Bingo!^^

Looks they're ramping up their war on the poor.

[Scuba]

3. Skip Stam has a history of not caring about the poor and not wanting a "nanny state".

Makes me suspicious about his motives.

[Kolesar]

4. punish vendors for selling lottery tickets to someone who they know is on welfare

Ok, more regulations for small business owners to deal with. The store owners will probably roll over and not tell Stam he is being a dick.

[Fumesucker]

5. He seems to be implying that the state run lottery is a bad investment for individuals

How could that be? I hear ads on the TV and radio all the time telling me that buying a lottery ticket is a smart thing to do and I will win a great deal of money by buying such a ticket.

Someone here does not have their facts straight.

[newfie11]

6. These holier than thou folks are unbelievable

I cannot imagine trying to live on the small welfare amount. I can only hope someday the high and mighty idiots making these laws have to live on them.

[MrYikes]

7. What welfare money?

[logosoco]

8. How does a lottery ticket seller know a person is on welfare?

Do they wear a big "w" on their clothes?

Doesn't the money go back to the state anyway?

And yes, as long as corporations get welfare, this argument does not hold water.

[nc4bo]

10. They don't unless the person uses their EBT card. How about stopping all banks from surcharging

EBT clients for getting cash from an ATM machine.

That's pretty messed up thing to do to people just getting by. Somehow I don't think this fool even gave it a second thought.

Biggest welfare frauds are corporations, not the person on AFDC or SNAPS. I'm so sick and tired of this divide and conquer shit as well as my fellow citizens that buy into the BS.

[Terra Alta]

9. so, if the person on welfare did manage to buy a ticket, and they won

would they be denied their winnings because of this law?

It's a really stupid law. Most people on welfare can't afford to buy lottery tickets, anyway. Do these morons know how little welfare recipients in NC get? Just enough to get by on and that's it. WHY don't these idiots think their stupid laws through?

Not to mention this has racist overtones. The poorest county in NC, Robeson County, has a non-white majority population(mostly Lumbee Native Americans, which is the tribe I belong to). I guess they only want rich, white folks to participate.

[nc4bo]

12. If you make those in need look like criminals, it keeps the spotlight off of the REAL criminals and

government welfare queens.......the corporations and big businesses.

People are so busy looking down at their neighbor buying a shrimp with their welfare money to bother looking up to where the real welfare being given to corporations, big business and their political enablers.

[Iggo]

11. Then why not go after the lottery, Skippy...

...instead of going after poor people and small business owners?

[greytdemocrat]

13. Man, what a bunch of stupid. n/t

[surrealAmerican]

14. If he truly believes that the lottery ...

... "is essentially a scam" by the state, why does he think it's alright to sell tickets to anybody?

What, is it perfectly fine to defraud people who have more disposable income? Fraud is fraud regardless of who the victim is.

[Morning Dew]

15. NC legislature should be prohibited from buying lottery tickets.

Members receive a per diem of around $100 per day for their necessities - there's really no way to tell if the member is using personal money or government money for lottery ticket purchases is there?

[etherealtruth]

16. Of course ....

The poor are "less than human" and certainly not deserving of the freedoms the rest of us share

Ass-holes

[jsr]

17. They forgot poker

Make that illegal, too.