A reporter asked the governor, citing a comment made in his state Senate, if he would support a lottery state. Bryant replied, “It’s silly,” He doubled down a few seconds later: “It’s a silly notion.” Bryant, who was launching a special legislative session on infrastructure funding, supported the lottery under the Capitol dome. Bryant stated that the state lottery was not his favorite source of revenue but that decisions had to be made before the special session started last week. “You need to weigh what you want and what is necessary. According to many lawmakers and staff, Bryant’s office drafted this bill. He is still the state leader pushing for the lottery proposal. According to polls, Mississippians support the implementation of a lottery. This explains why Speaker Philip Gunn (R-Clinton) and Lt. Governor. Tate Reeves will not stand in Bryant’s path. Reeves’ staff approached several state senators on Thursday evening and got votes in support of the lottery, several Republican senators said to Mississippi Today. Gunn stated to the Associated Press that he would not block a lottery’s passage “if the votes among Republicans are there” before the special session started last week. This represents a shift in position for both legislative leaders. Gunn and Reeves tried to stop the passage of the lottery in the previous two sessions. They cited the negative socioeconomic consequences of the lottery. Gunn stated that the government was purposefully creating an unattainable dream, a pipe dream of making it rich, in the minds its citizens in April 2017. It is deliberately not telling its citizens about how outrageously high the chances of winning. The government wants to spend more money, so it is tempting people to play. All this is done to make the government more wealthy so that it can spend more. The government is preying upon its own people just for the sake making more money, and not being honest with them about their chances to winning.” Reeves stated at a campaign event that he was against a lottery and thought the game wouldn’t generate significant revenue. Reeves stated at the time that he believes that notions that substantial new dollars would be brought into the state are false. “I believe that the net revenue will be significantly lower than some people would like it to be,” Reeves stated at the time. There are many studies supporting these claims, some of which were cited by a Gunn-commissioned study team last summer. A 1999 study in the National Tax Journal showed that poor people spend more on lottery than other people. However, a 2012 National Institutes of Health study found that lotteries are more popular during times of high unemployment and recession. Another study cited by University Research Center state economists cites similar results. The 2017 study concluded that lower income participants transfer more revenue to the government than those with higher incomes. According to the 2017 study, economic researchers found that states with lotteries have higher income inequality than those without. This is a result of the above results. “A least one study has cited the proliferation of state lottery in the rise in income inequalities in the U.S. that began in 1970s.” Gunns and Reeves are well-versed in these concepts. They have discussed them numerous times in the past, citing them and blocking attempts to pass a lottery through Congress. Gunn stated that eighty percent of all lottery tickets were purchased by low-income, minority men with less than a college degree. According to another study, 80 percent of lottery participants are below the poverty line. Gunn stated that these are the people who can least afford it, citing statistics from an MSN.com article in 2010. The article is no longer online. Numerous Christian blogs encouraging Christians not to play the lottery also cite this statistic. Gunn said, “Where does government sell lottery tickets?” They aren’t selling them at Jackson Country Club. They aren’t selling them in the lobby of banks. They don’t sell them at the banks lobby. “You’ll see them shifting from buying candy bars, Cokes, or gas to buying lottery tickets,” said Reeves. Economic experts have advised Mississippi’s Republican leadership on economic issues. The Washington-based Tax Foundation, which helped Gunn and Reeves navigate the 2016 biggest tax cut in state history, was blunt about the state’s consideration. Jared Walczak from the Tax Foundation wrote in January that Mississippi policymakers might be tempted to view a lottery as free money, or new revenue without having to create a new tax. “A better way to think about the issue is to recognize the lottery for the fact that it is a regressive, high-implicit taxation.” Leaders at the conservative Mississippi Center for Public Policy, which regularly advise Bryant and Gunn on policy matters, have criticized Republican leaders for supporting the proposal. Jameson Taylor, vice-president for policy at the center, stated that “The Speaker has declared his opposition to the lotto.” “But at the same time, the lottery has a very strong following among voters. It’s difficult to refute their argument that people are buying tickets in other states, and that we want to allow them to sell tickets here in Mississippi.” Taylor said that the lottery was bad public policy. “It’s an agressive tax.” Legislative leaders are promoting how they have cut taxes and reduced government spending. Their support for the lottery is inconsistent with their principles. Gunn stated that existing wealth “merely changes hands” in a 2017 interview about a lottery. “All that you do is move it from one person to another… In this instance, it’s more offensive since the government is the pocket to which it was being moved.”_x000D