Bill Would Limit Lottery Advertising

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Bill Would Limit Lottery Advertising

Special Report - April 9, 2007
A bill has been introduced in the North Carolina General Assembly that would prohibit the state lottery from sponsoring games, or advertising with state colleges and universities.

There are already some lottery advertising limits, “to minimize the appeal of lottery games to minors” by prohibiting “cartoon characters.” The current law also bans the state lottery from using “false, misleading, or deceptive information.”

The bill, H 461—Lottery Advertising Compliance Act, however, expands advertising restrictions so that “No advertising or sponsorship may take place in connection with any high school or collegiate sport or high school or collegiate sporting event, or be placed in any high school or collegiate sporting venue."

Bill Brooks, president of the North Carolina Family Policy Council said, “This is a much needed bill that will help curb the voracious appetite of the state lottery marketing machine. As each year passes, it will become clearer that the lottery is a bad way to raise revenue, and that gambling is a corrupting influence on our society, especially our youth. Allowing the state lottery to have any connection with education is the wrong thing to do.”