Toledo Blade: “Raffle Baffle” requires clarification
A recent featured editorial in the Toledo Blade brought to light some of the issues that veterans and fraternal organizations are dealing with, as House Bill 325 continues to move forward in the Ohio House of Representatives.
The editorial, from the Saturday, January 11th edition of The Blade emphasized the importance of clarification to a law that exists with many gray areas. The editorial also notes that the Ohio Lottery’s plan for machines in veterans and fraternal organizations is “unconstitutional”. If the Lottery’s program becomes the standard in Ohio, veterans and fraternal groups would not be the only losers; local and national charities will also suffer.
Bill Seagraves, executive director of the Ohio Veterans and Fraternal Charitable Coalition, says that without state interference, coalition members have used their raffles to give millions of dollars to veterans’ and other charitable organizations throughout the state. If the lottery takes over, he says, Intralot would benefit, but veterans’ groups would get too little to cover expenses and give to charity.
The Ohio Veterans and Fraternal Charitable Coalition has so far raised over $6.5 million in the last 24 months, with those proceeds going directly to the people and organizations who need it most: charities, veterans organizations, and fraternal organizations. HB325 will clarify the law, and allow these organizations to both keep their doors open and give back to their communities by supporting the charities they have always supported.
January 14th, 2014