North Carolina's lottery came into the world as an ugly little bugger that only a mother could love -- screaming, spewing and soiling itself.

Some folks tried to prevent the lottery's birth. And when it arrived, some immediately called it illegitimate.

Still, despite the claims of bastardy -- and despite the ethical lapse du jour -- most North Carolinians eventually will consider the lottery a winner.

Let us put aside the backroom wheeling and dealing of one of the lottery operators, the unethical behavior of several lobbyists and the legislative sleight-of-hand used to get the measure through the Senate.

That is all smoke.

The lottery passed because the people of North Carolina wanted it. Gov. Mike Easley and the legislative leadership wanted it. And all our neighbors were raking in millions from their lotteries.

Despite all the ethical breaches, a poll conducted last week by the Elon University Institute for Politics and Public Affairs found that 70 percent of North Carolinians still support the lottery.

"These findings on the lottery suggest that either people are not aware of the controversy over the lottery, or perhaps, they really just don't care about the events surrounding its start-up," said Hunter Bacot, the poll's director.

"From these findings, it appears the citizens just want the games to begin," Bacot said.

Although the lottery has been tainted, the ethical problems are likely not fatal. The main problem so far is that two paid agents for Scientific Games, one of the lottery vendors seeking the state contract, did not register to lobby as required by law and were less than forthcoming about their dealings. (The problems were uncovered by the digging of my colleagues Dan Kane and J. Andrew Curliss.)

It was particularly cheeky for Scientific Games to place one of its paid agents on the lottery commission -- although the company does get style points for sheer brass.

With the federal grand jury snooping around, we don't know what else may turn up. But so far, the violations have all been misdemeanor material. Assuming there aren't more revelations, the lottery should be able to operate effectively.

The lottery commission is being led by Charles Sanders, a lottery opponent from Durham who is the very antithesis of a political hack. After running a giant pharmaceutical company [Glaxo], leading one of the nation's best hospitals [Massachusetts General] and teaching at Harvard Medical School [he's a cardiologist], Sanders should not find running a lottery too taxing.

This is like getting Steve Jobs to help you set up your home computer.

Sanders was appointed by Easley, an independent-minded politician who rose in politics as a corruption-busting prosecutor.

Last week, the commission hired an experienced lottery pro who has run or helped run lotteries in New Mexico, Texas, Florida and Georgia. He once headed the national lottery trade group. This guy should know what he is doing.

Now, North Carolina residents, in the words of noted philosopher Cuba Gooding Jr., just want the state to "show me the money."

There is every reason now to believe the newborn lottery will soon be contentedly suckling, sleeping through the night, maybe even potty-trained.