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Showing posts with label lottery revenues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lottery revenues. Show all posts
Saturday, December 7, 2019
A life-changing problem to discuss this week
Monday, July 18, 2016
A gambling-crazy future: What are the odds?
A gambling-crazy future: What are the odds?
GENE MILLER / PUBLISHED: JULY 18, 2016
Editor,
Regarding “House approves bill that expands gambling venues,” Standard-Speaker, June 29, consider this tongue-in-cheek, lame attempt at political satire:
“Hey, Brad! What’s happening?” Dave shouted as he barged unceremoniously into his neighbor’s kitchen.
Brad barely looked up. “Nothing much,” he muttered. “But I told Andy I’d help him with his math homework, and I’m stumped. This stuff is pretty hard.”
“What’s it about?” Dave asked.
“Probability.”
“Oooh,” said Dave sympathetically. “That sounds awfully advanced for ninth grade. I remember taking probability at Penn State 30 years ago and having lots of trouble with it. Is there a specific focus?”
“The lottery,” Brad sighed. “They want the kids to figure out the odds of winning the Pick 3 and the 39 other games. Then since the county and most of the boroughs and townships have their own lotteries, the students have to apply their broader conclusions to the local versions. It’s really complicated. But they need to be aware of current trends, I guess.”
“Yeah, my daughter’s doing an 11th-grade term paper on casino psychology. She hopes to find out why so many people are attracted to them.”
“Well, at least school’s not all heavy academics,” Brad said. “Since they introduced video poker as a phys-ed elective, the kids have something to look forward to three times a week.”
“And there’s off-track betting as an afterschool option,” Dave noted.
“They’re doing some creative things,” Brad agreed, “now that state funding isn’t an issue anymore. Do you remember — it’s been almost 12 years — when Gov. Wolf and the Legislature were locked in that budget stalemate. And it was mainly over education spending and who’d pay for it. That seems like ancient history. It could never happen nowadays.”
“It’s amazing, when you think about it,” Dave mused. “Who’d have thought then that gambling revenue would expand so fast that it more than covers all statewide expenditures. When they abolished the income tax and all local property, school, count, and municipal taxes two years ago, it was the most popular thing that ever happened in Pennsylvania. And next year the sales tax bites the dust too.”
“The whole situation is a politician’s dream,” Brad reflected. “All those no-tax pledges are passé now. They can all run for re-election and they won’t even need the gerrymandering.”
“There is a downside to all this,” Dave said, growing suddenly serious. “Since we induced all Jersey’s casinos and online gambling sites to move here, that state’s gone belly-up. I’ll bet they’re gonna need a huge federal bailout.”
“That’s their problem,” Brad said. “But there’s also the matter of those 8½ million folks who need treatment for their gambling addiction. And there seems to be no money in the budget for it. The churches especially are up in arms about that.”
“Yes,” said Dave, “but did you hear about that church that’s installed slot machines in their vestibule? Someone told me it’s an alternative to offering envelopes. Where d’ya think it’ll all end.”
If our legislators continue to favor the “easy” or “painless” expansion of gambling over the meaningful — though unpopular — reform of the state’s revenue (i.e., tax) system, could it one day approach reality? Stay tuned.
Gene Miller,
Sugarloaf Township
Sunday, July 17, 2016
States continue to bet on lotteries, casinos to support schools and service
States continue to bet on lotteries, casinos to support schools and services
Michigan Gambling
Locations of casinos and horse racing venues by county in Michigan. (Charles Crumm/Digital First Media)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON LINK
Stop in at any lottery retailer on an evening when jackpots in some of the games are reaching the stratosphere, and there’ll often be people waiting in line to buy tickets.
The Michigan Lottery – 11 draw games and dozens of instant scratch-offs and pull-tabs – generates nearly $800 million a year for the state, with part of the money earmarked for the state’s School Aid Fund.
Add in taxes and fees on money raked in by casinos and horse racing, and the total jumps to nearly $1.1 billion that schools or government takes in annually from gambling.
A report issued in April by the Rockefeller Institute looked at state revenues nationally from gambling – including state-sponsored lotteries, commercial and Indian casinos, and horse racing.
The conclusion was in the subtitle: “Short-term relief, long-term disappointment.”
Once seen as a solution to struggling state and local budgets, revenues from gambling are declining in many states, though only slightly in Michigan, according to the report.
The ups and downs of gambling has major implications for states that are heavily dependent on gambling taxes and fees for its operations and schools.
“If you are highly dependent on one source of revenue, you’re vulnerable,” said Chuck Moss, a former Republican state lawmaker from Birmingham who chaired the Appropriations Committee in the Michigan House.
GAMBLING HISTORY
The Michigan Lottery was established in 1972, with the state contributing 29 cents of each $1 to the state School Aid Fund.
Since 1972, the various state lottery games have generated $19.6 billion for the School Aid Fund. That worked out to $495 per pupil in 2015.
The explosion of casino gambling on Michigan Indian reservations and the opening of the Windsor Casino across the Detroit River in Canada in 1994 opened the doors to commercial casinos in Detroit.
Commercial casino gambling was legalized in 1996, allowing for three casinos in the city of Detroit. The state collects a 8.1 percent tax on wagering and the city collects another 10.9 percent.
Today, there are 23 Indian casinos, three commercial casinos and two horse tracks in 22 of Michigan’s 83 counties, in addition to 11,000 licensed lottery retailers across the state. There are 22,450 tribal slot machines and more than 9,300 at the three Detroit casinos.
IMPACT
Since 2008, Lottery revenues have decreased 4.5 percent, commercial casino revenues to governments have fallen 17.6 percent, and tribal revenues to local governments are down 45 percent, according to the Rockefeller Institute research.
The Rockefeller numbers differ from the Michigan Lottery’s annual report, which shows both an increase in revenue and ticket sales of tickets from state lottery games.
By far, state lottery sales make up the bulk of the revenues from gambling the state takes in each year.
Gambling generated $1.077 billion in taxes and fees in 2015, of which 74.2 percent was from state lottery ticket sales and 25.3 percent from casino wagers. The state took in relatively small amounts from pari-mutuel wagers at horse tracks in Hazel Park and Northville.
SCHOOL AID FUND
In Michigan, public education is the main recipient of taxes and fees from state-run and commercial gambling.
However, at $12.5 billion, gambling’s contribution to Michigan’s School Aid Fund amounts to 6-7 percent, or roughly $495 per pupil in 2015. The bulk of the School Aid Fund, slightly more than 82 percent, comes from sales taxes, income taxes and property taxes.
State Rep. Tim Greimel, an Auburn Hills Democrat and former school board member, said the contribution from the state lottery to the School Aid Fund in the coming school year is projected to rise to $850 million, from $795 million last year.
“I think it’s a good thing we have several sources of funding for the school aid fund so we’re not overly reliant on any one source of revenue,” Greimel said. “Every dollar is significant for our schools, especially in light of budget cuts that hit schools 4-5 years ago.”
Gambling revenues to support school and government budgets may be here to stay, however.
“It’s always challenging for governments to wean itself off any stream of revenue,” Greimel said. “Government has an obligation to enact fair and equitable tax policy that protects middle class families and lower income individuals.”
Lottery revenue that eventually reaches classrooms isn’t enough, a teachers union leader said.
“I believe that the public assumes all revenue from the lottery goes into public education and that is, in fact, incorrect. The government is purposely misleading in this regard,” said Paula Herbart, president of Michigan Education Association Local 1.
“Money that is not filtered down into the public schools from other sources, as the public is lead to believe, is likely supplanting other programs, perhaps offsetting tax breaks or supporting other publicly funded entities,” Herbart said.
Herbart said the $12.5 billion school aid fund is insufficient to provide a world class education that public school students deserve.
“Many of our districts have eliminated program offerings not due to a lack of interest but rather due to budget shortfalls,” she said. “Our teachers use their own income to fund the purchasing of essential items such as pencils and Kleenex. In some Macomb County districts our members are purchasing hats, gloves and coats to keep students warm in the winter. In a time when there are more and more children in need, school funding in many Macomb County districts is less or only slightly more, than it was in 2010-11.”
*****
Editor’s note: Chuck Moss is a candidate for the Oakland County Board of Commissioners. His opponent in the Aug. 2 Republican primary is incumbent Shelley Goodman Taub. The winner faces Democrat Charles Gaba in the November general election. Greimel is unopposed in the Aug. 2 Democratic primary. His opponent in the November general election will be the winner of the Republican primary, either Pete Trzos or Garren W. Griffith.
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Mass. officials note small drop in lottery sales near Plainridge Park Casino
Mass. officials note small drop in lottery sales near Plainridge Park Casino
By Colin A. Young, STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
BOSTON — With about three weeks worth of data in hand, Massachusetts Lottery officials said Thursday that they have already noticed an impact on state Lottery sales from Plainridge Park Casino.
Plainridge, which offers slot machines and electronic table games, opened last month and Lottery officials have been monitoring sales at the 200 Lottery agents within a 15-minute drive of the Plainville facility, Interim Executive Director Michael Sweeney said.
"We are still seeing strong numbers at retail agents such as convenience stores and gas stations that carry our products. Where we're seeing some early decreases in that zone are in more of your restaurant, bar, lounge-type of places," Sweeney said. "In that particular region within a 15-minute radius drive, lottery sales are positive but they're not at the same level of strength as the area immediately outside of there."
Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, who chaired a meeting of the Lottery Commission on Thursday morning, said she and the Lottery team will be keeping a very close eye on the impact Plainridge has on the Lottery, particularly as other casinos come online in the next few years.
"When I'm watching television and I see Plainridge's ad, I cringe," Goldberg said. "But when the big-branded names come in and they really start to throw those ad dollars behind it, that's when we really need to pay attention."
The treasurer said that, though Plainridge is competition to the Lottery, she likes the fact that it will arm the Lottery with plentiful data it can use if it needs to illustrate a need for a larger appropriation from the Legislature.
"As someone who comes out of a competitive business, when you see your competition approaching you, you don't wait until it impacts you, you proactively own the marketplace," she said. "In terms of accessing increased capital from the Legislature, we're going to have to show them data that we are being impacted. That's why we are monitoring Plainridge very, very carefully, because it will give us initial data that we can access and then move forward."
Any decrease in Lottery revenue would mean that less money would be funneled from the agency to cities and towns across the state -- the Lottery expects to return $983.5 million to the Commonwealth from last fiscal year. Reduced sales could also harm the small businesses that serve as Lottery agents, Goldberg said.
"They are solid, middle-class business owners but they work on very tough margins and we're an important element to them," she said. "Not only in their commissions, but more importantly in the traffic flow that they get into their stores and selling their other products. We drive a lot of that business."
http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/07/mass_lottery_officials_note_sm.html
Friday, May 15, 2015
The Lottery Could Be the Most Regressive Form of Taxation in the US
O'Brien writes: "What if I told you there was a $70 billion tax that the poor pay the most. You'd probably say that isn't very fair. But that's exactly what the lottery is: an almost 12-figure tax on the desperation of the least fortunate."
Powerball sign. (photo: Ross Catrow/Flickr)
The Lottery Could Be the Most Regressive Form of Taxation in the US
14 May 15
hat if I told you there was a $70 billion tax that the poor pay the most. You'd probably say that isn't very fair. But that's exactly what the lottery is: an almost 12-figure tax on the desperation of the least fortunate.
To put that in perspective, that's $300 worth of lottery tickets for every adult every year. But it's actually worse than that, because, as The Atlantic's Derek Thompson points out, researchers have found that the bottom third of households buy more than half of all tickets. So that means households making less than $28,000 a year are dishing out $600 a year on lotteries. And, as a result, everybody else doesn't have to pay the higher taxes they would if gaming revenues weren't underwriting our schools.
So what? Lotteries might be just like a tax for all but the one-in-a-hundred-million who win them, but they're still a voluntary tax. It's not the government's fault that people either don't care or don't realize that, once you account for taxes and the possibility of splitting the pot, it never makes financial sense to buy a lottery ticket. Right? Well, no. It's not that poor people don't understand that the lottery has a near-zero chance of making them dynastically wealthy. It's that they think everything else has an actually-zero chance. That's why, as Thompson highlights, people making less than $30,000 are 25 percent more likely to say that they buy lottery tickets for money than for fun, while it's the opposite for everyone else. State lotteries, in other words, don't just prey on poor people's dreams—they do that for everyone—but rather on desperate dreams.
That adds up. And not just in the "if you put $600 in the stock market every year, do you know how much you'd have in 40 years" sense. It might not sound like a lot, but an extra $600 can be the difference between being able to deal with an unexpected emergency—an injury, illness, or car breaking down—and being forced to borrow money on terms that are the reason the word "usurious" exists. Indeed, payday lenders specialize in turning a couple-hundred dollar loan into a never-ending cycle of fees. It's their raison d'être.
But the worst part about lotteries is that they continue even though we know what we should do with them: abolish them and replace them with prize-linked savings. What's that? Well, it's an idea so good that it seemed destined to only exist at think tank conferences. It's a system where instead of each person earning interest on their savings, all the interest is pooled together and then raffled off. So in the worst case, people have saved money that they otherwise would have lost on lottery tickets, and in the best they won a nice little cash prize on top of their little nest egg. Or, as the Bipartisan Policy Center puts it, prize-linked savings are "a lottery with no losers." Now, up until last year, banks hadn't been allowed to do this in all but a handful of states, but, in a stunning act of competency, Congress got rid of all the federal hurdles in the way. The problem, though, is it's hard to get someone to understand something when their low property taxes depend on them not understanding it. In other words, it isn't always easy to get state governments that depend on lottery revenues to allow something to compete with that.
And so we keep taxing the dreams of people who don't have much more than that.
And so we keep taxing the dreams of people who don't have much more than that.
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Editorial: States All In On Gambling
Editorial: States All In On Gambling
News that the New Hampshire Legislature is, yet again, considering a bill that would bring big-time casino gambling to the state raises two concerns. The primary one, of course, is that lawmakers will succumb to the lure of additional revenue this time and open the doors to all the ills that accompany casinos. But we’re also a bit worried about the well-being of the legislators themselves. Might another round of the same debate — it’s been going on for at least a couple of decades now, and the talking points for both sides haven’t changed much — prove to be a mind-numbing, soul-killing experience for lawmakers who are otherwise quite busy deciding which social services and agencies to most underfund?
We propose to make a contribution to the mental health of New Hampshire lawmakers in two forms.
First, we will refrain from repeating the same points that we’ve been making about why casino gambling would be bad for the state and its residents. But just to help the hardworking representatives in Concord keep things fresh, we suggest that if they feel obliged to again address the matter of gambling, they try something different: How about a debate on shrinking the enterprise?
Yes, it’s about as likely as a free-ranging debate about the adequacy and fairness of the state’s revenue base, but it’s not unheard of for a state to entertain the notion of reducing its dependency on gambling revenue — or at least toning it down a bit. According to a recent report from the Pew Charitable Trusts, legislatures in several states have considered measures that would require state lottery commissions to exercise some restraint in their efforts to promote their games.
How we got to this point is fairly easy to grasp. It’s indisputable that lottery revenue is pretty easy money for most states. Forty-three states now supplement their revenues by offering games of chance. “Supplement” might be the wrong word. According to the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries, if all states’ revenues were thrown into one pot, lotteries sales would now account for more than 10 percent of the money. Some states are finding it difficult to resist the temptation to further lean on lottery sales to boost their budgetary health — not just by offering new games, but also by venturing into new territory such as mobile apps, online sales and even credit card purchases. That has prompted some legislators to propose measures to ban certain gaming platforms or at least to make more resources available for helping problem gamblers.
Such measures signal a recognition that while lottery sales may be an easy way for states to raise money, they’re also a bad way. Numerous studies have documented the reverse Robin Hood effect: A disproportionate percentage of players are among those who can least afford to spend the money.
That might not be a troubling phenomenon if they were spending only the odd buck here and there for the slim chance of hitting a big payoff. Many are. But, according to the Stop Predatory Gambling organization, more than 70 percent of state lottery money is coming from just 10 percent of the players. In other words, the nominal price of lottery tickets isn’t preventing problem gamblers from buying so many of them that they’re creating real financial problems for themselves and their families.
If New Hampshire legislators were to address the question of whether the state ought to dial back on lottery promotion, it would be an interesting debate. According to the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries, per capita sales in New Hampshire in fiscal year 2014 amounted to $208 (with total sales at $276 million), compared with the national per capita sales of $250. On the other hand, there are 10 states recording per capita sales below $100. (Vermont, at $163, was not among them.)
New Hampshire is not a state that’s shy about capitalizing on people’s vices, so it’s not hard to imagine it following the lead of others by offering online sales or mobile apps. (It’s already possible to sign up for text notifications of jackpots.) Should the state exercise some self-control by pre-emptively banning possible expansion of lottery options or otherwise limiting the amount of money it takes from people who might not be in the best position to squander it? It’s a debate worth having.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
News about casinos and lotteries in your community
I only email when we have important news to share so below are some that I've have been saving to put into one email to you: 1) The first ever national documentary investigating America's state lotteries, Out of Luck, will be released in the first half of 2015. If you're someone who first got involved in this issue because of casinos, this film will dramatically advance the entire national debate about government's failed experiment with predatory gambling. Please think about how you might use this film to educate your community and your state, such as sponsor a film screening at your State House, a local theater or your place of worship. You can follow the latest news about the film's forthcoming release on Twitter @OutofLuckMovie. 2) In a sign of where the public policy of predatory gambling is headed in the years to come, this past week two legislators from two different states called for their state lotteries to be phased out. Accurately describing the funding coming from the lottery as simply “smoke and mirrors,” Oklahoma State Senator AJ Griffin said it’s time to get rid of her state's lottery. Texas State Representative Scott Sanford filed legislation that would criminalize predatory gambling in Texas, including the state lottery's notorious $50 instant scratch ticket. 3) Our National Victims Advocate Speakers Bureau launched last month. Coordinated by SPG National Victims Advocate Melynda Litchfield, the purpose of the Speakers Bureau is to raise the consciousness of opinion leaders and the general public about the policy of government-sponsored gambling through education, awareness and advocacy in three specific areas: 1) how slot machines cheat and exploit citizens; 2) how this public policy (including lotteries) is dishonest, is financially damaging to citizens and creates unfairness and inequality across the country; and 3) why the time has come to phase out this public policy. Members of the Speakers Bureau are citizens who've been harmed by this policy in some way and they present at meetings and events in their region, calling for major reform on this issue. If you are interested in being considered for the Speakers Bureau, please email melynda@stoppredatorygambling.org 4) .We are in the early stages of organizing the first-ever National Day of Action against predatory gambling. It's being planned for Fall 2015. The event will draw more national attention to the issue but most of all, it sends a message to the media and the political class that the citizen movement against predatory gambling is real and growing. The "action" can be anything individuals or groups want it to be. But no matter what people do for an action, the key part of it is for each of us to take a photograph and post it on a website/social media site that we set up specifically to capture our collective effort. We actively welcome your participation in helping to plan it. Please contact me at my email above to participate. 5) In what was a very high profile fight, last week Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker ultimately rejected a proposed casino in the city of Kenosha. We worked with statewide organizations and SPG members in that state to make the public argument against it. In our letter to Gov. Walker, SPG called casinos "the symbol of anti-reform governors across the United States, Republicans and Democrats alike." Here's our letter and here's the news release about it. 6) For more than 25 years, the casino lobby has told the American people that casinos are the engine to help Native American tribes prosper. Now The Economist, the world's leading international magazine, spotlights how casinos have actually made tribal members poorer. Please share this must-read story with opinion leaders and citizens in your region. 7) The next big predatory gambling expansion that some states are targeting is the new concept of "daily fantasy sports" which is a form of sports gambling geared to young people. It's far different than season long fantasy sports games which you may be familiar with. If you watch sports on TV, you've likely seen ads for FanDuel or Draft Kings. The issue presents a much needed opportunity to significanty elevate the national debate around our government's predatory gambling policy. We were recently on a legislative panel in Las Vegas to discuss its significance for all of us. This USA Today story does a good job of summarizing the discussion. 8) No Casinos Florida which has a strong track record of creating quality, persuasive video about predatory gambling, released its "Gambling Creep" video last week. While it emphasizes the Florida experience, it highlights how once government begins to sponsor gambling, inevitably the state will turn to more and more extreme forms of predatory gambling in a continually growing amount of locations.The narrative rings strong and true in every state. Watch the brief video here. That's all for now. If you support our mission and work, please become a member of Stop Predatory Gambling today. Thanks for the work you do. Keep pushing. Best, Les ____________ Les Bernal National Director Stop Predatory Gambling "End the dishonesty and harm of government-sponsored gambling and the unfairness and inequality it creates." |
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Stop Predatory Gambling Foundation ι 100 Maryland Avenue NE, Room 310 ι Washington, D.C. 20002 ι (202) 567-6996 | |
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Wrong side of economic table
Wrong side of economic table
Last updated: November 27. 2014
Don McNay Life Lessons
“It’s a lonely, lonely road we’re on/ This side of paradise” — Bryan Adams
My late father was a professional gambler. Towards the end of his life, he was active in helping at a soup kitchen in Cincinnati, which was run by the Sisters of Charity.
One Thanksgiving, as dad was dishing out food to homeless people, my father was approached by the Sister who ran the program.
“Joe,” she said, “What do you do for a living?”
“I’m a gambler,” replied my father.
“Joe,” she said “This is the first time we ever had a gambler on this side of the table.”
The key to my father’s success was that he was always on the house side of the table.
He understood that if the house has the odds in its favor long enough, the house will eventually and always win out. As he often noted, “You never see them tearing down a casino because people beat them out of money.”
First with lotteries, and then with video slots and casinos, governments realized that a very easy way to gain revenues is by allowing and sponsoring gambling.
The lottery and other games that have been legalized bring in much of their income from those on “the wrong side of the table.”
Some European countries limit access to the casinos to those who prove they have sufficient assets.
Various forms of stock and option trading, which can be considered a more elite form of gambling, require that those who invest in those instruments have the net worth to survive a loss.
In my father’s era, bookmakers cut off bettors on losing streaks. Las Vegas casinos carefully monitored their customers and cuts off their credit when they lose too much.
There have been few, if any, moves by states to monitor the losing of their lottery customers.
Legalized casinos, which have several games of skill and reasonable probability, gear most of their operations to the highly profitable slot machines and video games.
Lotteries have evolved from a form of gaming called “numbers,” formerly very popular in poor, urban neighborhoods. If you go into a grocery or liquor store in any poor neighborhood today, you will see people who can’t afford to lose even a few dollars, standing around playing scratch off lottery games until all of their money is gone.
I rarely if ever gamble. I can’t stand to part with my money on something that is such a bad bet.
My few trips to casinos have been bad experiences for the house. I bet very little and I am a terror at the low price buffet. I play high probability games and won’t go near a slot machine. I have a certain profit margin in mind and leave the second that I hit it.
In short, I am a person casinos do not want to attract.
Making gambling illegal was an attempt to protect people from themselves.
It did not stop the tide but pushed it underground. Gambling for rich people, such as options trade and sophisticated stock market games, have always been allowed. Most of the crisis on Wall Street was caused by corporations gambling with stockholders money.
When I passed the stockbroker’s (Series 7) test many years ago, I called my father and asked, “Why is futures trading legal but betting on the Bengals illegal?” There is no logical answer.
States are under pressure to legalize casinos and slot machines, and just like the lottery, they eventually will. It is much easier than raising taxes or cutting services.
When legislators do expand legal gambling, someone must think about and speak out for the person on “the wrong side of the table.”
When I was growing up, my father would go around to the sleeping room hotels and give out bottles of low cost champagne on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Just like the patrons at the soup kitchen, many of those men were gamblers. Often the bottle was the only gift they got.
Legalized gambling is not responsible for most of these people being in their positions in life, but states needs to take extreme care that we are not keeping them there.
http://www.harlandaily.com/news/home_top-local_features/150654123/Wrong-side-of-economic-table
My late father was a professional gambler. Towards the end of his life, he was active in helping at a soup kitchen in Cincinnati, which was run by the Sisters of Charity.
One Thanksgiving, as dad was dishing out food to homeless people, my father was approached by the Sister who ran the program.
“Joe,” she said, “What do you do for a living?”
“I’m a gambler,” replied my father.
“Joe,” she said “This is the first time we ever had a gambler on this side of the table.”
The key to my father’s success was that he was always on the house side of the table.
He understood that if the house has the odds in its favor long enough, the house will eventually and always win out. As he often noted, “You never see them tearing down a casino because people beat them out of money.”
First with lotteries, and then with video slots and casinos, governments realized that a very easy way to gain revenues is by allowing and sponsoring gambling.
The lottery and other games that have been legalized bring in much of their income from those on “the wrong side of the table.”
Some European countries limit access to the casinos to those who prove they have sufficient assets.
Various forms of stock and option trading, which can be considered a more elite form of gambling, require that those who invest in those instruments have the net worth to survive a loss.
In my father’s era, bookmakers cut off bettors on losing streaks. Las Vegas casinos carefully monitored their customers and cuts off their credit when they lose too much.
There have been few, if any, moves by states to monitor the losing of their lottery customers.
Legalized casinos, which have several games of skill and reasonable probability, gear most of their operations to the highly profitable slot machines and video games.
Lotteries have evolved from a form of gaming called “numbers,” formerly very popular in poor, urban neighborhoods. If you go into a grocery or liquor store in any poor neighborhood today, you will see people who can’t afford to lose even a few dollars, standing around playing scratch off lottery games until all of their money is gone.
I rarely if ever gamble. I can’t stand to part with my money on something that is such a bad bet.
My few trips to casinos have been bad experiences for the house. I bet very little and I am a terror at the low price buffet. I play high probability games and won’t go near a slot machine. I have a certain profit margin in mind and leave the second that I hit it.
In short, I am a person casinos do not want to attract.
Making gambling illegal was an attempt to protect people from themselves.
It did not stop the tide but pushed it underground. Gambling for rich people, such as options trade and sophisticated stock market games, have always been allowed. Most of the crisis on Wall Street was caused by corporations gambling with stockholders money.
When I passed the stockbroker’s (Series 7) test many years ago, I called my father and asked, “Why is futures trading legal but betting on the Bengals illegal?” There is no logical answer.
States are under pressure to legalize casinos and slot machines, and just like the lottery, they eventually will. It is much easier than raising taxes or cutting services.
When legislators do expand legal gambling, someone must think about and speak out for the person on “the wrong side of the table.”
When I was growing up, my father would go around to the sleeping room hotels and give out bottles of low cost champagne on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Just like the patrons at the soup kitchen, many of those men were gamblers. Often the bottle was the only gift they got.
Legalized gambling is not responsible for most of these people being in their positions in life, but states needs to take extreme care that we are not keeping them there.
http://www.harlandaily.com/news/home_top-local_features/150654123/Wrong-side-of-economic-table
Monday, November 10, 2014
Political comedian John Oliver powerfully skewers predatory gambling
Pop culture, especially late night comedy shows, generally showcases political issues that have entered the national picture. Last night, national political comedian John Oliver, a popular former cast member of The Daily Show by Jon Stewart who now hosts his own show on HBO called "Last Week Tonight," took dead aim at the issue of predatory gambling. I urge you to watch below and share it.
(If the above image doesn't show in your email, watch the segment here.)
Keep pushing. Thanks for the work you do.
Best,
Les
____________
Les Bernal
National Director
Stop Predatory Gambling
"End the dishonesty and harm of government-sponsored gambling and the unfairness and inequality it creates."
If you support our mission and work, please become a member by contributing $10 or more today to help sustain it.
Stop Predatory Gambling Foundation ι 100 Maryland Avenue NE, Room 310 ι Washington, D.C. 20002 ι (202) 567-6996
Monday, October 20, 2014
Boston Globe got it WRONG!
The Globe's reporting about Predatory Gambling has been mostly disappointing with few exceptions!
My response to the Boston Globe "takedown" of the substitutability of lotteries and casinos (i.e., will casinos draw money away from the lottery):
Which source will I trust – "The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Gambling" published by the Oxford University Press.... Or a short piece in the Boston Globe that does nothing serious to study the actual effects. I'll go with OUP.
http://books.google.com/books?id=-Wa-AAAAQBAJ&lpg=PA45...
The two pages of the OUP aggregates studies on the substitutability of casino gambling and lotteries (among others). It finds that casinos and lotteries are in fact substitutes. They're not complementary. As this is a peer-reviewed book published by one of the most prestigious academic presses in the country, I am going to take it far more seriously than what is more or less a fluff piece. There is no real analysis here whatsoever – simply random claims attached to random numbers at random years. There is no methodological consistency; there is no aggregation of data; there is more or less nothing here at all. If you claim to have undertaken an analysis, it might help to actually show what you analyzed. I see absolutely nothing here. In terms of "experts," I see one. One.
There is growing interest among academics and...
books.google.com
An editor came to his or her senses this AM and changed that atrociously misleading headline. It still doesn't eliminate the problems with the article itself.
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