The Oregon State Lottery commission voted in early December to set July 1 as start-up date for video poker machines in Oregon bars and taverns.

The first Oregon lottery ticket was purchased in April of 1985. It was widely promoted as a stimulus for the state's faltering economy, a way of creating jobs, funding for schools and to finance economic development. It has fallen short of the mark.

A recent survey shows there are about 36,000 Oregon adults who are "problem gamblers." An additional 23,000 are even more addicted "pathological gamblers."

These figures are from a Herald and News article Dec. 28, by Jeff Marotta who heads up the states program for problem gamblers.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who at one time was opposed to gambling as a "revenue generating strategy" for the state, is now hoping that this expansion of gambling will alleviate the state's budget woes. It won't.

Helen Farmer