Tuesday, September 30, 2003

Wilmington -- The proposed North Carolina Education Lottery will be the focus of a panel discussion and public forum on at 7 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 16, in the Warwick Center Ballroom at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Admission is free. The public is encouraged to attend and will have the opportunity to ask questions of the panelists.

Panelists speaking in favor of the lottery are Bernard Allen, state representative from Wake County; Gardner Payne, former executive director of the North Carolina Education Lottery Coalition; and Dr. Candace Gauthier, professor in the UNCW Department of Philosophy and Religion.

Panelists opposing the lottery will be Don Carrington, vice president of the John Locke Foundation; John Rustin, governmental relations director for the North Carolina Family Policy Council; and Rev. Dr. Mike Queen of the First Baptist Church of Wilmington.

The program is sponsored by the UNCW Department of Communication Studies.

The proposed lottery, which has been debated in the state legislature numerous times over the last decade, is expected to be a legislative issue again in 2004. Advocates claim a lottery would provide additional funding for the state's educational system and provide an alternative to tax increases. Opponents claim that state lotteries fail to produce the windfalls that are promised, and instead contribute to gambling addiction and other social problems.

For more information, contact Dr. Randy Bobbitt, UNCW Department of Communication Studies, 910/962-7635, bobbittw@uncw.edu.