Stop Predatory Gambling New Mexico chairman Dr. Guy Clark was extensively quoted in an Albuquerque Journal article yesterday on the bill that would allow customers at gas stations to use credit or debit cards to purchase lottery tickets at the gas pump. The project proposed by the state lottery board is called “Pay At The Pump.”
Clark pointed out that studies in many states show that the state lotteries gain a majority of their lottery revenue from minorities, the poor and the uneducated, and that “pay at the Pump” would further exploit the poor in our state by extending the reach of the lottery.
Senate Bill 355 is the vehicle that could legalize this terrible idea, and it is the beginning of a plan by the lottery board to extend the opportunity to purchase lottery tickets first to gas pumps, second to ATM’s around the state, and finally to mobile devices.
These grandiose plans would expand the predatory nature of the lottery and exploit our citizens in the name of assisting the scholarship fund. It is a horrible idea to allow people to use credit to gamble.
SB 355 needs to be stopped. It is likely to appear in Senate Corporation Committee on Monday at 2:00 pm. We invite all to attend and testify against this terrible bill.
