Alabama likes it poor

It's better to be in a small group doing the right thing than be part of a large group doing the wrong thing - even if it's for the right reasons, says The Birmingham News. First, we're told, lotteries are inefficient: only a third of the proceeds go to beneficiary programs. Well, that's still $16 billion nationwide going to public schooling and other good causes and not to for-profit riverboat casinos or even outfits on the web that may not even be legitimate.

Second, states that raise money from a lottery do so at the expense of the poor. Is that a fact? Most research shows that player demographics match the general population pretty closely (except when the jackpots are really big, when the rich pour out in droves to get even richer). Everybody likes to have fun.

Third, most players don't win. No duh. When citizens work that out, the Birmingham News tells us, lotteries try to entice players back and it "just becomes a downward spiral with no good end." Well, no good end except pre-K programs for at-risk 4-year-olds, smaller class sizes, new school construction and college scholarships for poor students.

When Alabama rejected a state lottery a few years back, maybe it did the right thing. But as parents with school-age kids in Alabama will tell you, they did it for the wrong reasons.