By Sam Baker, KERA 90.1 local Morning Edition host
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-527350.mp3
Dallas, TX –
The state agency in charge has tried many tactics to get people to buy lottery tickets: higher jackpots, adding an extra ball to the drawing - even trying to convince people the basic jackpot of 4-million dollars is a lot of money. A new campaign, however, touts how Texas lottery revenues have contributed more than 8-billion dollars to education over the past 8-years. That's far less than Texas annually spends, but the Lottery Commission's director of media, Bobby Heith, says a billion a year is nothing to dismiss.