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From Boon To Bust: State Lottery Policy & How Stakeholder-Created Beneficiary Fund Structure Determines Vulnerability To Future Legislative Grabs, Lisa Mathews

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Funding K-12 education is one of the largest public expenditures for most states in the U.S., and Nebraska is no exception (Nebraska Department of Administrative Services, 2011). Since the 1960s, the policy of state-enacted lotteries has slowly but steadily spread throughout the country with all but seven states now operating a lottery to benefit a range of community and social programs with Education being the most common beneficiary (Novarro, 2002). Since the Nebraska lottery’s inception in 1993, about $400 million has been raised for these primary beneficiaries and other beneficiaries on a smaller scale. Legislative and Constitutional changes have left …