The Myth of the Ohio Lottery

This commercial has been airing incessantly for the last few weeks, and it aggravates me every time that I see it.

If you think that buying a lottery ticket is actually helping schools in Ohio, please do a little bit of research. For every dollar that is given to your school by the Ohio Lottery, a dollar is taken away from the state funding that is earmarked for your school. No school in Ohio is helped by lottery funds - only the state's budget.

These commercials started showing up right after Gov. Strickland announced that funding for the schools is going to be cut. That's not a coincidence. He's trying to figure out some other way to save the state's budget - and every dollar that you spend on lottery is one less dollar that he has to spend on education.

If you want to buy lottery tickets, feel free. I've been known to buy a scratch-off or two. Just don't delude yourself with the belief that you're helping schools. If you want to help schools, vote for your local levies - until they fix the mess that is Ohio State Education Funding, it's the only way to make sure that our schools stay open.