“What has six balls and screws Texans? The Texas Lottery!” (Kinky Friedman)

“What has six balls and screws Texans? The Texas Lottery!” declared Kinky Friedman in 2006, during his unsuccessful campaign for governor of Texas.
 
It’s an old line. Other state lotteries have been mentioned with this line, and the Texas lottery quip dates from at least 1994.
 
“What has 75 balls and screws old ladies?” is a related joke that’s told about the game of bingo.
     
       
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QA
sorgatz
7/10/92
In article <1992Jul9.2…@gumby.dsd.trw.com>

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) () writes:
>Q:  What has six balls and screws you twice a week?
>
>A:  The California Lottery.
 
Google Groups: rec.sport.football.college
From:  Scott Hendryx
Date:  Fri, Oct 28 1994 3:12 pm
 
What has six balls and screws you twice a week?

The Texas Lottery..

HubStuff
HubStuff June 6, 2003
There’s an old joke that has resurfaced recently: “What has six balls and screws you twice a week?”
 
The answer, of course, is Lotto—the ubiquitous state-sanctioned voluntary tax for the mathematically impaired.
   
Casino Gambling in Texas
Jul 1, 2006
Kinky Friedman made the following joke the other day:“What has six balls and screws Texans?”^^^^^“Texas Lotto”
 
He is all for Indian run casino gambling in Texas. Texas is supporting the economies of Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisana, and Mississippi. Lets keep the money at home.
 
LubbockOnline Discussion Boards
Posted by thirsty (Member # 3626) on July 25, 2006, 08:26 AM:
...if he doesn’t like the lottery, why expand gambling? This is hardly going to fix things and get more funding to the schools.
 
Out of context, it might seem that Kinky doesn’t like gambling. That’s hardly the case.

At the rally, he actually was using the irreverent riddle about the six balls only to say that the Texas lottery is not serving Texans as it should.
 
He went on to cite the Georgia lottery’s funding of college education for Georgia public school graduates with “A” or “B” averages as something that the Texas lottery should be doing.
 
Google Groups: soc.culture.usa
From:  .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Date:  Tues, Aug 1 2006 9:48 pm
 
Waxahachie Daily Light - Jul 31, 2006
http://www.waxahachiedailylight.com/articles/2006/07/31/dailylight/ne…
On the trail with Kinky
By JOANN LIVINGSTON
Daily Light Managing Editor
(...)
He criticized the state lottery, saying, “What has six balls and screws Texas? The lottery. This is no little secret, we all know this.”
 
The state of Georgia provides college education benefits for children with its state lottery, he said. “In Texas, what have we got? Every time a bell rings, another lobbyist gets his wings.”
 
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From:  .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Date:  Mon, Aug 14 2006 3:22 pm
 
What has six balls and screws Texans? The lottery, he said, criticizing the current advertising campaign for the Texas Lottery that talks about the financial benefits Texas public education gets from the lottery.
 
Friedman calls it lies, saying the lottery profits go into the state’s general fund and politicians’ pockets. He said it should be reformed to directly fund college education for successful students, similar to how the Georgia Lottery operates.