The NAACP branch in Dallas is taking on the Texas Lottery. The group wants to eliminate the lottery, because it preys on the poor.
Juanita Wallace, the president of the Dallas chapter claims there are many more lottery sales venues set up in poor areas of that city, than in middle- and upper-income neighborhoods.
"Research shows that there are more poor people that purchase these lottery tickets and scratch-offs than the people that can actually afford it: the middle and upper class," says Wallace.
The Texas Lottery Commission denies the claims, but does admit that the people most likely to play the popular “Pick Three” game earn less than $20,000 a year and that unemployed people are most likely to buy scratch off tickets.
The Baptist General Convention of Texas says it too, is pressing state officials to axe the lottery. Both groups claim the Texas lottery hasn't been the cash-cow for school funding that many people thought it would be.
