This article from Salon.com outlines the ten strongest reasons why state lotteries hurt the economy and the poor. It explains how lotteries not only hurt those who play, but also hurt local business and help foster crime.
This article from Salon.com outlines the ten strongest reasons why state lotteries hurt the economy and the poor. It explains how lotteries not only hurt those who play, but also hurt local business and help foster crime.
A recent rise in online gambling has caused some states to allow consumers to purchase lottery tickets online. However, as this article explains, this allows problem gamblers to rack up huge amounts of debt more quickly and more easily.
Amy Ziettlow investigates how the ubiquitous electronic gambling machine absorbs the time and money of many seniors, while exploiting their loneliness, idleness, and boredom.
One of the effects of regional casinos is the sex trafficking of minors. This atrocity is garnering more and more attention nationwide as the number of children affected increases.
Increase in sex trafficking of minors getting local, state attention
A study by the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions shows that our nation’s poorest citizen are also those who problem gambling hits the hardest. Those living in poor neighborhoods are over twice as likely to have a gambling addiction than their counterparts in a more affluent community.
People in poor neighborhoods are twice as likely to have gambling problems
Casinos fail to increase revenue even though casino leaders continue to promise to the contrary, according to an article in the Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky. Instead of generating new income to provide for education and other services, experts say casinos provide an unstable and unsuccessful base for revenue and caution against using them to fix budgetary problems.
This story in The Chicago Reporter chronicles the funding problems that have plagued the city’s education system. The article proposes that instead of buying lottery tickets, that give only 30 cents per dollar to the school system, Chicago’s children would be better served with contributions directly to the schools.
Better Odds- Money for lottery tickets could be better spent on education
According to this Washington Post story, a new report reveals that slot machines are manufactured to trick players. The machines often use positive reinforcement, in the form of celebratory sounds, to convince gamblers they have won when they are actually losing their money.
Despite the promises from gambling promoters it would fund public education if passed, this Los Angeles Times story reveals the California Lottery provides only 1.3% of the state’s entire education budget. This shows, once again, that the claims casino supporters routinely trot out are unsubstantiated and are proven falsehoods.
California Lottery funding generally makes up 1.3% of the state education budget
Officials in Niagara Falls, New York are preparing to mark the 10th anniversary of the casino, which opened with much anticipation and rave reviews on New Year’s Eve 2002. Casino proponents at the time said the casino marked a new era in the development of Niagara Falls. Yet after ten years, the spinoff development that some anticipated has yet to develop on a large scale, and some downtown business owners, including developer Carl P. Paladino, say the company enjoys unfair advantages by not paying taxes on its properties.
Casino bets that it’s time for change