For years, investing in cancer research has been a frustrating game of chance. Now a legislator wants to create a new lottery game to increase the odds.
Sen. Geraldine Thompson, a Democrat from Orlando, is sponsoring legislation that would add a new scratch off game called “Ticket for Cure.” Sales would support breast cancer research at Florida universities.
That’s welcome news to the executive director of the Florida Breast Cancer Foundation, Russell Silverman.
“Anything we can do to increase the amount of research dollars that go to find cures to end breast cancer is certainly worthwhile.”
Ticket for Cure would have plenty of competition. At any given time, there are 60 scratch-off games in play. Four new scratch-off games are added every week.
A Florida Lottery spokeswoman says it’s too early to tell how much money could be raised, especially without knowing how much the ticket will cost.
The cause is popular.
There are 20,000 “End Breast Cancer” license tags on Florida highways. They’ve helped Silverman’s foundation dole out more than 4 million dollars in research grants.
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