Should Lottery Winners Share the Wealth?

Re “Feeling Lucky, California Joins 11-State Mega Millions Lottery,” Feb. 9: In my humble opinion, critics of the lottery are being a bit shortsighted. It’s unlikely that laws allowing the state’s participation in lotteries will be struck down, so why not look at it as an opportunity to encourage (or even require) big winners to share their wealth with those in need? Why not, for instance, say that for every ‘X’ million dollars won by an individual, a certain amount might go to feeding, housing and educating the homeless?

Perhaps those who administer the lottery can create some type of database with brief bios of our less fortunate citizens, keeping names anonymous, and have winners choose 10 or so to whom the winner will become a benefactor. Or maybe local philanthropic organizations can organize a way to have winners pledge certain amounts and have those organizations oversee distribution among the needy. With the amounts of money swirling around in lottery games, surely there is a way to tap some of that in an effort to reduce poverty in this country.

Donna Jamerson

Thousand Oaks