Is gambling an ethical way to fill the gap in a state budget and keep state workers employed?

[HopeHoops]

Background:

PA has slot machine casinos. They raise money for the state. After over 100 days without a budget and workers on "unpaid work time" during that period, they finally passed a budget with the agreement that they would allow table games at casinos. No details were included. They just passed the "details" for the table games and that will avoid more layoffs, as well as release funds for four colleges.

The state employee jobs and college funds were blatantly used as bargaining chips to get the table games legislation passed.

The question, again, is:

Is gambling an ethical way to fill the gap in a state budget and keep state workers employed?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. Absolutely.

No one forces anyone to gamble and it's not a physical addiction. There's nothing unethical about allowing people who are responsible enough to do so to gamble.

[raccoon]

13. It is an addiction. nt

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

15. Not a physical one. (nt)

[Rage for Order]

38. That depends...

Studies have been done on gambling addicts and the pathology is very similar to that of people who are drug addicts. Many of the areas of the brain stimulated by the act of gambling are the same ones stimulated by cocaine use, heroin use, etc.

That said, I don't think gambling should be illegal. Unfortunately there will always be some people who can't handle it. If casinos weren't available these same people would go to the dog track, horse track, play the lotto, bet on sports, etc.

[Mari333]

36. so is cheese

[raccoon]

42. I hope you live in Wisconsin. nt

[kerrywins]

2. The State Should Not Be the Only Ones Allowed to Sell Gambling

and we certainly should not legalize gambling to give the state even more resources.
We should legalize gambling, because the state didn't have the authority to outlaw it in the first place.

Then again, when does the state need proper authority to do anything?

[blondeatlast]

3. You made me choose between "yes" and "Glenn Beck is an asshole."

Not nice, not nice at all.

[HopeHoops]

8. I trust you decided on the latter.

[wryter2000]

4. Other

It doesn't do anything to help state government, if the CA lottery is any example.

[slackmaster]

5. Yes, and Glenn Beck is an asshole

Some people have a problem with gambling, just as some have problems with alcohol; but both should remain legal for adult use.

[BeyondGeography]

6. Of course...it's a common behavior that would otherwise be catered to illegally

[tridim]

7. Personally I believe gambling is a potentially dangerous human flaw

But I don't think it should be made illegal.

[HopeHoops]

10. It isn't a matter of "legal" or "illegal" - it is holding workers and college funding hostage!

They've done that many times in PA. This time it was over expanding gambling. The point isn't whether gambling should be legal or not but whether the hostage situation was ethical.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. Would a ban on dancing on Saturday nights improve our country's family values?

[aikoaiko]

11. In GA, all the lottery money goes to pay for HOPE scholarships.

Every GA High School student who graduates with a 3.0 or greater can have their state univ/college tuition paid completely plus some fees and $300 for books each semester.

[HopeHoops]

17. The lottery is a tax on the mathematically challenged.

I'd rather buy tickets for a lightening strike in a hot air balloon while being bitten by a poisonous snake - the odds are better.

[RaleighNCDUer]

22. Only if you think of the lottery as an investment for yourself,

rather than an investment in the education system.

The NC education lottery gets $3/wk off me. That's $156/yr that I donate to the NC schools (minus expenses). The one in several million chance that I will hit a $100,000+ payoff hardly figures into it - for my own payoff, I put a couple hundred a month into my IRA (admittedly, also a gamble). I count on the IRA, not on the lottery.

[HopeHoops]

25. Just send them a check - avoid the overhead.

The "funds this or that" bullshit is silly. The states suck off most of the money in "operating expenses" and give a token amount to the so called "causes" to make it look appear legitimate.

[RaleighNCDUer]

27. Actually, the operating expenses - the cost of administering the lottery, plus

the payoff of winnings - is fixed by law. I'm not sure what it is, exactly, something like 22%, meaning 78% MUST go to the school system.

I don't know how taxes work in YOUR state, but I know of no mechanism where I can 'just send them a check' to support any particular state agency.

And why should it burn your ass if I want to play a lottery?

[HopeHoops]

32. You can send a check to the school district in any state.

They also accept other types of donations. When my wife was on a NH school board, she used most of her meager stipend to buy books for the school district. Scholastic had a "100 books for $99" deal back then and that's what she bought.

On a related note, she was considered "the liberal" on the school board. While she was serving, a guy got elected by promising to lower everyone's school taxes. He won by 13 votes over someone who didn't even bother to campaign. His first act in office was to propose an increase in the school board stipend and it passed. The only one to vote against it was my wife - "the liberal". She just added the extra money to her annual book purchase for the school system.

[aikoaiko]

40. I buy overpriced brownies at school bake sales too -- I'm such an irrational consumer.

[HopeHoops]

44. LOL! Yeah, I'll give them a buck and not take anything if I'm not hungry.

I don't do raffles either, but if a kid comes around raising money for a club or team I'll give them a dollar and not take a ticket.

[raccoon]

12. NO. I voted against the so-called "SC Education Lottery" in my state, even

though there was the valid argument that if SC didn't have a lottery, our money would go to GA's lottery.

It passed anyway.

"Is gambling an ethical way to fill the gap in a state budget and keep state workers employed?"

It is doubleplusungood.

[wuushew]

14. No, gambling is a sham and failure at all levels

Revenue should primarily be raised by progressive taxation of income. To do otherwise is disasterous tactic in the ongoing class war.

[LuvNewcastle]

16. The casinos here are laying off workers.

Gaming revenues are down and the state has a big budget shortfall. Sure, we're better off than we'd be if we had no casinos, but the industry feels the crunch as much or more than other businesses.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

18. Lotteries etc are a tax on the stupid. Look at the demographics of thiose who participate

[leftstreet]

20. Yes, blame the people not the conditions they live under

:eyes:

Always nice to see on DU

[PRETZEL]

19. The lottery is a huge revenue generator for PA

there is both an element of gambling (you chose the number you play) as well as chance (the computer picks the numbers)

Table games are definately more along the lines of true gambling, but we already have a form of legalized gambling. Table games are no more, no less, an extension of what's already done.

[Fleshdancer]

21. Gambling is a tax on people who are bad at math.

I can't remember who said that, but it's one of my favorite quotes. :rofl:

I personally don't think of gambling as an ethical issue. What people choose to do with their money (whether they throw it away while playing a game or throw it away on crap they don't need) is none of my business.

[HopeHoops]

33. Actually, I'm the one who said that. See post #17

I've been saying that for over 20 years. I'm one of the few people who can honestly say "I've never bought a lottery ticket", and I never will.

[Fleshdancer]

37. It was something I read in a math text book years ago

not to take away credit from you of course! :D

[HopeHoops]

43. For all I know, that's where I first saw it. I didn't invent it, just been saying it.

It probably dates back to the introduction of lotteries, but it is still true.

[LostInAnomie]

23. Gambling, pot, and prostitution.

We really shouldn't be in the business of punishing vice that doesn't harm anyone.

[lpbk2713]

24. Glen Beck is most assuredly an asshole.

Now what was this poll about again? :shrug:

[HopeHoops]

34. It doesn't matter. I try to fit the "Glenn Beck is an asshole" option into any poll I post.

[Mz Pip]

26. We have it here

in CA in the form of the lottery. The money is supposed to go towards education. I suppose it helps some but not nearly enough. We also have gambling casinos, race tracks and card rooms. Don't know where that money goes. Probably not to the state. CA is prety damn broke.

Mz Pip

[Unvanguard]

28. Gambling for profit is manipulating people into harming themselves.

Not ethical conduct for anyone, especially not for governments.

[JVS]

29. Gambling often creates a whole lot of new problems, so ethics aside, it's not very pragmatic

[Romulox]

30. Nope. It's exploitation of the poor, the mentally ill, and the desperate. nt

[Odin2005]

31. Gambling is immoral and unethical.

No, it's not an ethical way to balance the budget.

[TexasObserver]

35. Yes, of course it is moral to have gambling produce state revenues.

States provide services and those services cost money.

Gambling is one place to garner revenues.

Let the Church Ladies stew over gambling, but ignore them.

[JustAnotherGen]

39. Can I have a do over?

I want to vote that Glenn Beck is an asshole! :rofl:


No seriously - he is. :-)

More seriously - I live in NJ. Love it or Hate it - there's money coming into peoples homes to feed their families, keep them warm, etc. etc. from the gambling money. I realize gambling can become an addiction. :-( But so can cigarettes and alcohol. And I don't want to see either of those outlawed either. What's next? Dancing?

[Stinky The Clown]

41. I'm opposed to a reliance on gambling, but not for moral reasons

I'll leave the moralizing on this one to the pearl clutches and town scolds.

Gambling can have bad side effects for some people. It can be come a problem with victims beyond the gambler. It is ephemeral. It attracts inordinately from that part of the population that can least afford to gamble.

That said, I don't see how states avoid getting into the gaming business. If neighboring states have it, those close by lose out on the potential revenue as their citizens go where it is legal. It is insidious.

[Dulcinea]

45. Yes.

I live in GA, & we only got a lottery in 1993. Before that, people would cross state lines to buy lottery tickets, etc., & neighboring states would get the money. I'd rather the cash stayed here.

If you don't approve of gambling, don't gamble.