Are lotteries to raise money for education all right?

Gambling is wrong, and trying to use education as an excuse to justify gambling is doubly wrong. This same type of logic would approve of prostitution to support low-cost daycare facilities or maybe state-sponsored drug sales to pay for new highway construction.

"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil" (1 Thes. 5:21-22).