For Immediate
Release: October 27, 2005
Senator Cliff Aldridge
Sen. Aldridge: Gov. Henry Should Put His Money
Where His Mouth Is & Play the Lottery
Gov. Brad Henry should regularly play the Oklahoma
Education Lottery – and pledge to give his net winnings
to public schools – to publicly show his support for the
state-run gambling operation that is the cornerstone of his agenda.
“The governor should put his money where his mouth is and
regularly play the Oklahoma Lottery,” stated Sen. Cliff
Aldridge, R-Choctaw. “I am being consistent by not playing
a lottery that I personally opposed. But the governor is being
hypocritical by having pushed for the lottery and now refusing
to play it.”
Henry recently said it would be inappropriate for him to play
the lottery. “Can you imagine the uproar if I won a prize?”
the governor quipped to the Tulsa World in an Oct. 12 story.
“If the governor is so concerned about the appearance of
impropriety, he could pledge to donate his net winnings to public
education,” Aldridge said. “It is more likely he isn’t
playing the lottery because of the long odds of winning. Oklahomans
are far more likely to be struck by lightning than to strike it
rich in the lottery.”
* The chances of winning the multi-state Powerball lottery –
which Oklahoma will join next year – are 1 in 146 million.
* The odds of winning the $25,000 prize from scratch-off tickets
in Oklahoma are 1 in 1,890,000 according to the Oklahoma Lottery
Commission.
* The chances of winning the $5,000 scratch-off prize are 1 in
604,000. And the chances of winning the $1,000 scratch-off prize
are 1 in 302,000.
* By comparison, the National Weather Service estimates that the
odds of being struck by lightning in a given year are 1 in 240,000.
