Senators bet on sports gambling to fund NC school construction

RALEIGH -- A group of state senators are betting that sports gambling could be their answer to funding school construction.

On Wednesday morning, Sens. Jim Perry, a Kinston Republican, and Paul Lowe, a Winston-Salem Democrat, filed Senate Bill 688. If passed, it would authorize sports gambling on professional, college, electronic and amateur sports or any other events approved by the NC Education Lottery Commission.

The lottery commission’s profits go to education. Under the bill, the commission would collect an 8% tax on the monthly adjusted gross revenue of gambling companies, sending half of the revenue to a fund that would promote job growth and economic development.

“I’m in a poor area,” Perry told The News & Observer Wednesday. “I have two Tier 1 counties and while I’m thankful for the money available through the lottery — they’ll let you forgo five years of your lottery funds to get some advance money, so to speak, to help with your schools — but that’s still not enough.”

Read more: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article250500484.html