Published Feb. 18, 2004

Quitman County lies in southwest Georgia, about 80 miles north of the Georgia-Florida line. Government assistance makes up 32 percent of the income of Quitman residents. Eight of 10 students in Quitman schools are of African descent, and 92 percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.

Last year, all retails sales in Quitman County totaled $3,803,000. This figure includes food, clothing, household items, automobiles — just about anything on which a retail sales tax is collected. Lottery ticket sales in Quitman County last year topped $5 million, or a little more than $2,000 for every man, woman, and child in the county.

Being a small county, the Quitman school system only has 21 teachers and 241 students. Twenty-one of those students — less than 10 percent — received either the HOPE scholarship or a HOPE grant. In HOPE funds and other lottery program monies, Quitman County recouped $190,993 from its $5 million in lottery ticket sales. That amounts to about 3½ cents for each dollar spent on lottery tickets.

Up the road a bit is Fayette County. Like Quitman County, Fayette County is geographically small, only 199 square miles. Located on Fulton County’s southern border, Fayette has become a bedroom community made up of affluent professionals who work in Atlanta.

Though a small county, Fayette boasts six golf courses, a world-class tennis center, an indoor aquatic center, a full array of youth recreational programs, and a 2,000-seat amphitheater.

The median family income in Fayette County is $71,227, more than double the state average. Almost one-third of the families there have annual incomes of greater than $100,000. Retail sales in Fayette County were more than $1 billion last year. That’s right, I said “billion.”

Fayette County has an excellent school system. More than 90 percent of students graduate, and most of those have a college prep diploma. Fayette County students received more than $6 million in HOPE funding last year. Add to that the more than $1 million in all other lottery funding that went to Fayette County, and the residents there raked in 55 cents of every dollar spent on lottery tickets.

Don’t misunderstand — I’m not implying that anything underhanded is going on here. The lottery funds are being dispersed exactly the way the law requires. But anyone with a shred of common sense can see that when the lion’s share of money goes to college scholarships, and no income test is required, most of the money is going to go to those who could afford to pay anyway.

While Quitman and Fayette counties illustrate the extremes that develop in a system such as this, many other inequities — in lesser degrees — exist statewide.

Catoosa County received 10 cents back from each dollar they spent on the lottery. Walker County citizens took in 13 cents on the dollar. Dade County only received 6 cents back per lottery ticket bought, and Floyd County recouped 20 cents on the dollar. That’s an average of 12 cents out of each lottery ticket coming back to northwest Georgia, where the median family income is $35,800, only slightly higher than the state average.

Suburban Atlanta counties fared somewhat better.

Cobb County received 33 cents per lottery dollar spent, and Gwinnett County got 36 cents back from each dollar; somewhat disappointing, I’m sure, since two years ago Gwinnett received an 81-cent payback for each lottery ticket purchased. Add Gwinnett’s figures and Cobb’s numbers to Fayette County’s, and the three most affluent suburban Atlanta counties took in an average 41 cents per ticket sold. That in an area with a median family income of over $64,000 per year.

Other counties to hit the lottery jackpot were Oconee County, median annual income $55,211, 56 cents received per lottery dollar spent; Lee County, $48,600 median income, 40 cents per dollar spent; and Houston County, median income of $43,638, 34 cents recouped from each ticket purchased.

As I recently told WRCB television’s David Carroll, if you like programs that redistribute wealth, the lottery is your game. The only problem is that this game takes from the poor and gives to the rich — Robin Hood in reverse, you might say.

For more on funding equity and the Georgia Lottery, watch David Carroll’s “Lottery Lowdown” Thursday, Feb. 19, at 6 p.m., WRCB Channel 3.

All economic, income, and lottery sales and funding data was taken from the 2003 County Guide, published by The University of Georgia.

Mike North is a professional land surveyor, amateur historian and former member of the Walker County school board. Send comments to him at Mike@myhumbleopinion.net. To read his past columns or contact him by Internet, visit www.myhumbleopinion.net