The anti-gambling group that has filed a lawsuit to stop Ohio from joining a multi-state lottery need only publish the latest Ohio Lottery revenue figures to support its case. In a word, they're down. Again.

The group, which includes church leaders and Ohio Roundtable, a conservative public policy advocate, also plans an ad campaign to demonstrate what everybody already knows: that gambling is an unreliable source of revenue, especially when the state is struggling to balance its budget.

David Zanotti, Ohio Roundtable president, said the ads will carry the message that "as an economic tool, gambling is not sustainable. To keep propping up state government with a non-sustainable tool is a scam."

The point is well taken. Ohioans should be wondering why their lawmakers are betting that joining a multi-state lottery will bring in $41 million to shore up the current budget. And ever-optimistic legislators expect the money to arrive in the 12 months between June, the earliest the state could join one of the multi-state games, and mid-2003.

That's unrealistic. Profits were down in fiscal 2001 for the fourth straight year. Sales dropped 10 percent, even with institution of a new game. As of Dec. 31, revenue for the first half of fiscal 2002 was $296.9 million, down from $319 million a year earlier and $348 million for the same period in 1999.

Worse than declining revenue is the empty promise lotteries hold for public schools. Many Ohioans still believe the folklore, perpetrated at its inception back in 1973, that the lottery will somehow solve school-funding problems. It hasn't and never will. Can there be anybody left who still believes otherwise?

By law, all lottery profits go to public schools; they comprise just 6 percent of the state's K-12 education budget. But even the $41 million the multi-state game is supposed to raise won't benefit schools. Lawmakers have already deducted that amount from education to help plug a budget deficit projected at $1.5 billion.

Like Charlie Brown rushing to kick the football held by Lucy, legislators seem to have a child-like belief in gambling as a revenue source. Will they ever get over that fantasy? Don't bet on it.