DISQUS

Say Anything: The Great Shell Game - State Run Lotteries

  • Dave · 4 years ago
    The indigent instant millionaire is typically indigent again in a few years.
    As my father always said: "You can take the person out of the trailer, but you can never take the trailer out of the person."
  • reverse_vampyr · 4 years ago
    I think you're on track with that "voluntary tax" idea.

    It's just crappy when the states position things such that the lottery will fund education, but then in a few years they're screaming for more money for education, as if the lottery isn't paying anything into the system. And then, of course, they need more taxes to pay for education.
  • Robert Perry · 4 years ago
    It's worth noting that the Minnesota Taxpayers' League--www.taxpayersleague.org--has found research that indicates that even the meager revenues paid into state coffers are more than offset by the costs of dealing with problem gamblers. Little things such as increased crime, treatment of problem gamblers, and increased demand for welfare services among those who've forgotten that prosperity is the result of work.

    In short, the state is taxing the poor to put them into jail, rehab, and welfare programs. Brilliant move.
  • Porkopolis · 4 years ago
    Somehow a perpetual motion machine comes to mind.
  • El-ahrairah · 4 years ago
    I am proud to say that the Great State of Utah is one of only two states of the Union (Hawaii being the other I think) that do not have a state run lottery. This is because the dominate religion in Utah, the LDS Church, has come out against all forms of gambling for many years. As a result, we do not even have casinos on any indian reservations in Utah. You could say that it's because, being pragmatic and all, Utah decided that if you really want to go gamble, you can go to Nevada and contribute to their state's gambling problems. After reading about how lotteries are just state-run shell games and another tax on the poor, I am very happy that we do not have a state-run lottery.
  • Northern Gleaner · 4 years ago
    State Lotteries are a Shell Game Phony Government Help Why Muslims Behead Unused Fuel in the Ground Second Hand Smoke is Good for You (or not) Smurfs under Sharia Law I am totally unbiased, they are worth reading.