Education
Lottery proponents often advocate lotteries for their economic benefits to education. Some lotteries dedicate a portion of their profits toward K–12 or higher education. Concerns have been raised, however, that these profits are not additional dollars for education but simply replace general fund dollars that would have been spent on education anyway.
In April 2004 mathematics professor Donald Miller of Saint Mary's College in Indiana argued in a USA Today article that educational spending per student gradually decreases once a state starts a lottery ("Schools Lose Out in Lotteries," April 15, 2004). The finding is based on examination of data from 1965 to 1990 for twelve states that enacted lotteries for education during this time. According to Miller, average pre-lottery spending increased each year by approximately $12 per student in these states. Post-lottery spending showed a huge increase in the immediate years following lottery initiation. On average the states increased their education spending by nearly $50 per student. However, the increase fell sharply in following years and eventually lagged behind states without lottery-generated education funds. Miller blames the problem on legislators using lottery funds "to replace rather than add to existing sources of education funding."
A 1999 study conducted by researchers at Duke University for NGISC calls earmarking lottery proceeds for education "an excellent device for engendering political support for a lottery." However, the study noted that it was doubtful that earmarked lottery revenues actually increase the funds available for specific programs. Some lottery funds earmarked for education just replace other funding sources. This is not true of programs initiated solely with lottery money, like Georgia's HOPE scholarship program.