Proposition 17 | Vote 2000 Home | Next - Prop 18 | Secretary of State Home |
Lotteries. Charitable Raffles.
Legislative Constitutional Amendment.
Argument Against Proposition 17
 

Arguments on this page are the opinions of the authors and have not been checked for accuracy by any official agency.

Proposition 17 would allow professional gambling organizations to run private raffles and lotteries.

Don't fall for the line that charitable raffles are presently illegal. Our Constitution and the courts have spelled out how to conduct legal charitable raffles.

Raffles and casino nights have been legally used by legitimate charities for raising funds for decades. The existing law is over 100 years old. No one has been prosecuted for this beneficial, entertaining method of raising funds to help children, hospitals, libraries, or a multitude of other legitimate charities.

Without limits and regulations, Proposition 17 will create the biggest gambling headache Californians have ever seen. What is now a harmless social activity will be taken over by professional gambling operators.

Under Proposition 17, unscrupulous persons will move in to create PHONY charities, market tickets statewide for their own personal gain, with only a trickle of money ever reaching legitimate charities.

Remember this. There is NO NEED for Proposition 17. Existing raffles are harmless fund-raisers for legitimate charities. They do not cause crime. The purchase of raffle tickets for local charities does not cause gambling addiction.

If Proposition 17 sponsors really cared about legitimate charities, they wouldn't have cleverly written this measure without regulations to prohibit phony charities and scam artists from lining their pockets with donations.

Proposition 17 creates problems and solves none.

Proposition 17 is a bad bet for California.

DON'T BE FOOLED BY PROFESSIONAL GAMBLING OPERATORS. VOTE "NO" ON PROPOSITION 17.

Dick Mountjoy
State Senator

Art Croney
Executive Director, Committee on Moral Concerns
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