LIHUE — Even if it was legal to buy lottery tickets in Hawaii, some Kauai visitors and residents say the record $800 million Powerball jackpot is not enough inducement to buy a ticket.
“Hawaii doesn’t participate, and I’m OK with that,” said Grisela Norwood, a Kauai resident. “I don’t believe in gambling, and the money never go where they say they will.”
“I’m not even tempted,” said Ian Franklin, a tourist from Canada said Friday. “I haven’t bought a lottery ticket in 38 years. To me, the lottery a way to tax the poor.”
Others, however, wish they could buy tickets, despite the astronomical odds of winning.
“If people want to gamble, why have one more regulation,” said Sven Kahle, a visitor from California.
Hawaii is one of six states that does not participate in Powerball. The other states are Alabama, Alaska, Mississippi, Nevada and Utah.
So if Hawaii residents want to get in on tonight’s drawing, they have to have a friend or family member on the Mainland to do it for them.
Sam Andrade, a Kauai native, did just that.
“I got my aunt on the Mainland to get me one,” he said.
If there was a state lottery, Andrade said, he would buy a couple of tickets.
“But I wouldn’t rely on it for my retirement fund,” he said.
The lottery is not the only game of chance Hawaii residents and visitors are not privy to.
Gambling, promoting gambling and possession of gambling records are illegal in Hawaii, and are punishable by one to five years incarceration. Gambling on cruise ship casinos is also illegal.
Not all, of course, agree with that state law.
State Rep. Dee Morikawa said she would support the lottery coming to Hawaii, but only if the state needed to explore additional funding options.
“I would rather see that, than the need to raise more taxes,” she said.
But Rep. Derek Kawakami said he wouldn’t support the lottery coming to Hawaii, and pointed to possible negative ramifications faced by lottery states and lottery winners.
“Studies have shown that low-income earners are more likely to play these types of games than wealthier counterparts, setting off a vicious cycle of further degrading their economic situation with the slim hopes of a huge cash windfall,” he said.
He said some studies have shown that over time, non-lottery states actually spend more on education than lottery states.
“It seems that even winners face challenges with almost 70 percent actually spending most of their winnings within a several years,” Kawakami said. “Some winners have fallen into drug abuse, bankruptcy and family fractures.”
Some, like Andrade, believe people want to gamble on the island, they should have that right.
“People should be able to do what they want, so it shouldn’t be regulated in that sense,” he said. “I’m not for gambling on things that are cruel, like chicken fighting, but if people want to gamble (with cards, chips), let them gamble.”
