FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: State Leaders Called On to Shut Down Lottery for 30 Days As Relief Checks Arrive

This morning the members of Stop Predatory Gambling sent a letter to leaders in all states with lotteries (The Wall Street Journal ran a story on it in Monday's edition.) The letter called on them to shut down all lottery gambling games for 30 days as hundreds of billions of dollars in direct federal financial relief is delivered to American families across the nation. Luring citizens to lose their money on lottery gambling games during this time defeats the intended purpose of the stimulus. Here's the letter we sent to all governors and attorneys general. Below is the press release we sent to media across the U.S. Please share it with your email and social media lists as well as any contacts you have in your state or local media. Thanks. Best, Les Bernal   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE      CONTACT: Les Bernal April 20, 2020                      (202) 567-6996 │ les@stoppredatorygambling.org STATE LEADERS CALLED ON TO SHUT DOWN LOTTERY FOR 30 DAYS AS RELIEF CHECKS ARRIVE Facts Show Many Citizens Gamble on the Lottery to Change Their Financial Condition and Even More So When They Are Feeling a Sense of Desperation (WASHINGTON, DC) — As hundreds of billions of dollars in direct federal financial relief is delivered to American families across the nation, state leaders are being called upon to shut down the marketing and selling of all state lottery gambling games for 30 days. All U.S. casinos have already been shut down for weeks. "Federal tax dollars are being sent to American families in order to put food on the table, make rent or mortgage payments, or provide for other daily necessities – not to subsidize state lotteries," said Les Bernal of Stop Predatory Gambling, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit who sent a letter on Monday to all governors and attorneys general serving in states with lotteries. "For lotteries to continue running when so many citizens are financially desperate is like putting Dracula in charge of the emergency room blood bank.” Bernal said there is a mountain of facts showing many citizens gamble on the lottery to change their financial condition, and even more so when they are feeling a sense of desperation. Yet state government is continuing to market its lottery gambling games at the very same moment that citizens are receiving their economic relief checks from the U.S. Treasury. As part of its letter to state officials, Stop Predatory Gambling included its 2020 Briefing on State Lotteries also issued on Monday. The report spotlighted lotteries as one of the root causes why more than 60% of Americans had less than $1000 in savings before the coronavirus pandemic occurred. The report found "state governments have turned a nation of small earners, who could be small savers, into a nation of habitual gamblers on course to lose more than $1 trillion of wealth to government-sanctioned gambling over the next eight years. At least half of this wealth – $500 billion – will be lost to state lotteries." Bernal hopes the lottery shutdown and the new report will bring sorely-needed attention to "America's most-neglected problem today." "Building assets and the accumulating and investing of savings, are the keys to financial peace," Bernal said.  "A home, a college fund, retirement accounts, a stock portfolio—these assets are the hallmarks of middle and upper class America, and they are all the result of savings. Creating wealth by the accumulation and investment of savings is the direct opposite of what state lotteries represent and encourage." -30- ________________________________ Who We Are — - A 501c3 nonprofit based in Washington, DC, we are a national social reform network of individuals and partner groups with members of more than 1 million people. - We believe in improving the lives of the American people with compassion and fairness, freeing us from the lower standard of living, exploitation, and fraud that commercialized gambling spreads. - We are one of the most diverse organizations in the United States, one in which conservatives and progressives work side-by-side to improve the common good. What We Stand For — - We believe everyone should have a fair opportunity to get ahead and improve their future. - We believe every person’s life has worth and that no one is expendable. - We believe that a good society depends on the values of honesty, concern for others, mutual trust, self-discipline, sacrifice, and a work ethic that connects effort and reward. - We believe no government body should depend on predatory gambling to fund its activities. If you share our beliefs, please help sustain our work by making a tax-deductible, financial gift today of $10 or more.

Stop Predatory Gambling Foundation 100 Maryland Avenue NE, Room 310  | Washington, District of Columbia 20002 (202) 567-6996 | les@stoppredatorygambling.org