
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, October 23, 1995                   TAG: 9510230155
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ABOUT THE LOTTERY ...

Voters approved the lottery in 1987, and the games got under way the following year. Today, the lottery is a $900 million-a-year enterprise. Its $314.5 million in annual profits make it one of the largest funding sources to the state's $8 billion-a-year general fund, which pays for an array of basic government services - including the state's share of public education.

When the lottery started, then-Gov. Gerald Baliles earmarked the money for construction projects such as new college buildings. Baliles argued that revenues from the lottery were too unreliable to use for operating expenses.

That changed in 1990 with Gov. Douglas Wilder. Combating a recession-wracked economy and struggling to avoid a tax increase, Wilder diverted the lottery money to balance the state budget.

by CNB