The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.
NOTE: The excerpt below is from the April 22nd BOTW archives.
Playing the College Lottery
“Coloradans may get a chance to vote this fall on an expansion of limited gambling to help fund the state’s universities,” the Denver Post reports:
Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, estimated the plan for video keno games in bars and restaurants across the state would generate $20 million in its first year and as much as $100 million a year within a decade if it proved popular.
The estimate is based on results in Oregon and Maryland, states that have keno, similar to a lottery in which players bet on numbers and hope they are selected by a computer.
Romer said the state is backed into a corner when it comes to college funding.
“This is a painful choice, and it’s something we would not do if we had another choice,” Romer said. “We need to think of creative ways to keep higher education affordable.”
In the Post’s comments section, “theairdog” observes:
I find it humorous that they are trying to fund Universities with gambling proceeds.
When I went to college, the first course I took was Statistics. The teacher went through all the games of chance and we calculated the odds of winning. So, the first thing I learned in college was not to gamble.
This may not be a fatal flaw. A lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math, and that includes plenty of college graduates. When theairdog took statistics, we doubt his classmates included many communications or women’s studies majors.
For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for the “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.
