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By JOHN GOOLRICK
Back in the days Delegate Billy O’Brien was practically a lone voice in the General Assembly calling for a state-sponsored lottery he and I used to talk about the subject a lot.
As O'Brien saw it the lottery was “an involuntary tax” that could give even the poorest Virginians a shot at becoming millionaires and whose proceeds could be earmarked for such
Opinion
worthwhile things as student loans, helping the elderly and health care.
The way he envisioned it the lottery would be a low key affair that could be played for a few dollars a week. So that people wouldn’t be enticed to gamble, any advertising that might offer such enticement would be prohibited.
1 favored the lottery since I played it frequently in Mary land. And yet I remember several hearings when prominent economic experts warned that the experience of states with lotteries .clearly demonstrated that while it might start in a low key manner, it would inevitably be expanded and relentlessly promoted.
I thought of such warnings the other day when 1 read that the Virginia Lottery Commission had authorized midday Pick 3 and Pick 4 drawings in ‘additions to the ones it has late at night. It probably got that idea from that paragon of virtuous government, Washington, D.C., which has had twice a day drawings
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