Texas Sports Team Charitable Foundation Raffles Amendment, Proposition 4

This is part of the series of posts where I struggle to understand and think through the 7 proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution that we can vote on 11/3.

Ballot Title

The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to permit professional sports team charitable foundations to conduct charitable raffles.

Helpful Links

• Ballotpedia
• Page 27 of the "Analyses of Proposed Constitutional Amendments" by the Texas Legislative Council
• Page 11 of the 2015 ballot "focus report" by the Texas House of Representatives
• Page 3 of progresstexas.org's ballot guide (for a progressive perspective)
• Page 5 of the Texas Libertarian 2015 Voter Guide (for a libertarian perspective)

What does this do?

In Texas, laws about raffles at professional sports games (or really anywhere) are very prohibitive. You can only have 2 per year, and all proceeds must go to charity. Why? Because that is considered a form of gambling, which is largely illegal here (wouldn't want any competition for the state-run lottery?).

This amendment makes our charitable raffle laws slightly less restrictive. Exactly - and only - 10 professional sports teams will be allowed to hold "50/50 raffles", where 50% of the proceeds go to charity, and the other 50% goes to the winner of the raffle. This can get a lot more people to join a charitable raffle, because they have more fun if there's the possibility of winning something. The teams will still not be allowed to profit from these raffles. There are various other restrictions, such as not allowing the winner to be announced "through interactive and instantaneous technology" because that would be electronic gambling!

Why would this be good?

Because there are many winners and probably no losers. More money can be raised for charities. Sports teams are allowed to do something they want to do. Sports fans can participate in something they want to participate in.

Why would this be bad?

Gambling addiction.

...

If you are like me, you are going to have a hard time imagining many lives getting ruined because someone repeatedly blew all their wealth on a crippling addiction to charitable raffles at baseball games. And anti-gambling groups who are lobbying against this law, like the "Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas", aren't even trying to say that will happen. Their argument is that allowing even this small increase in "gambling" will be a slippery slope to even worse laws allowing even more kinds of gambling in the future.

Verdict

I plan on voting yes.

It seems to me that everyone is a winner here, and I don't put much weigh on slippery slope arguments in general. You can use that type of logic to oppose anything if you want to.

What would it take to change my mind?

I really don't know.