|
year will not have some form of gambling
game to raise money.
We suggest to you only that at this time
that it is not the purpose nor the wisdom
of this Convention to forestall forever the
opportunity of the legislature of the State
of Maryland, the political subdivisions and
the people of the State of Maryland to use
some form of gambling device which may
be used to raise money, and I say to you
it is quite clear from the presentation of
the majority that the word "lottery" re-
mains whatever the Court of Appeals says
it means, now and in the future.
Finally, we submit simply that it is not
a constitutional matter.
In the minority report we say that the
arguments set forth by the majority that
the matter of lotteries in general is a
proper subject for constitutional import is
simply untrue and has no basis in fact.
The fact is that prohibitions against lot-
teries exist in many constitutions. State
constitutions having long been a subject of
critical analysis for their wordiness, ar-
chaicness and general clumsiness is no ar-
gument to justify its inclusion in a pro-
posed model constitution.
The arguments that organized gamblers
will rush in if a state lottery is created or
that such interests will invade our land if
scattered churches are granted a private
lottery is nonsense. State lotteries exist in
our nation today and there is probably not
a state, county, municipality or hamlet
that has not had a private lottery every
month.
The question is not whether we will have
lotteries in the State of Maryland, but
whether they will be castigated in the su-
preme pronouncement of the constitution
and overlooked in everyday life, as they
are now; or whether the matter will be left
open for the legislature to deal with in a
constructive and organized manner.
You have heard about Rhode Island.
I hope in the discussion Judge Sherbow will
read you the rest of the editorial of which
he read a part. I believe the first word
when he began to read was, "Also the
State did" so and so. I would be very in-
terested in what else the State did which
caused them to withdraw the Constitution.
I am sure that the restriction or the re-
moval of a lottery ban was not the only
reason that they saw fit to withdraw the
Constitution of the State of Rhode Island.
I am also interested because in the most
j recent Saturday Evening Post, I believe
|
it is the last one out, there is a four or
five page article on the Mafia, and in New
England the place they concentrate on is
Rhode Island and Providence. And that
Mafia has been in existence all this time
when they had the ban. I suggest to you
it is not going to change whether they do
have them or do not have them, whether
they ignore it or they do not. Gamblers are
going to be where the gamblers can make
money, and the gamblers are not going to
come running down to Maryland if we put
in a lottery.
You have heard about England, and I
suggest to you England just does not make
any money. England had gamblers before,
and they will have gamblers until the year
2000. They are not going to appear or dis-
appear because of a lottery.
In Rhode Island we talked about the
Mafia which has been there for some time.
I suggest to you that in the State of Ohio
there have been court decisions finding that
the gasoline games that we have been talk-
ing about are lotteries, and are therefore
illegal.
Very recently I saw a full page ad in a
newspaper by the Sinclair Motor Company.
I do not have to tell you what the gasoline
companies are doing in the State of Mary-
land. They are all over the State of Mary-
land, American, Sunoco, Sinclair, every
major gas company has something in the
form of a lottery.
I would like to read to you what they
said in the paper about the Israel lottery.
The gentleman said: "The solution to the
sluggish state lotteries in the United States
is simple, according to Dr. Michael Lan-
dau: g-ive the people more action. Landau
runs the Israeli lottery, one of the most
successful in the world. During the last
fiscal year it produced more than $13 mil-
lion in earnings for schools and hospitals/'
He goes on to say why he thinks it ought
to be run. He says, "One cannot arg-ue with
the success of the operation he runs. Since
the nonprofit corporation, controlled by the
government, began in 1951, it has raised
more than $149 million. Out of profits, ten
hospitals, 207 dispensaries and more than
9,000 class rooms have been erected in Is-
rael. The schools and hospitals receive
about 31 percent of the income."
Then it goes on to say what happens to
the rest.
I want it understood that I am not advo-
cating a lottery either for myself or on
behalf of the minority. I think I said at
|
