Gambling

Legal gambling seduces desperate local economies and profits from the very citizens who are least able to afford it. An alarming number of lottery sales rely on a small number of less-educated, low-income individuals from poor neighborhoods. Money reserved for education from these lotteries primarily fund scholarships, scholarships that are acquired mostly by middle class students. As a result, low income families are aiding in the progression of middle class families’ education, but little to none of these funds are aiding in advanced education of those on or below the poverty line. Despite states stating that revenues from lotteries are a crucial part of financial support for their states and community, none could prove that program funding would not be available if lotteries did not exist. In reality, most of these states experienced a decrease in general funding for programs lottery was created to improve. Although Native Americans boast that the establishment of a casino helped many tribes to overcome severe levels of poverty by creating jobs, Native American reservation populations still remain at about 50 percent unemployment. Among other casino types, such as destination resorts and smaller commercial casinos, those employed by indian casinos take in the lowest average pay, are not unionized, maintain low job security, and experience a lack of federal employee protection laws being followed. Convenience gambling, such as stand-alone machines located in easily accessible public locations, creates a minuscule amount of jobs and generates no local economic growth. These alluring rapid paced video gambling machines are readily available and exploit compulsive behaviors of local citizens to obtain as much money it can i...

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... that are susceptible to very high loss in a short amount of time. Gambling should never be accessible to children also. When lotteries and casinos are advertised, advertisements should be prohibited from falsely expressing the chances of winning. Lottery commercials repeatedly imply that hundreds of millions of dollars and a life of paradise is just a ticket away. In reality, however, chances of hitting the Mega Millions jackpot are a measly one in two hundred and fifty eight million. To put these odds in perspective, ticket holders are 23 times more likely have identical quadruplets, 26 times more likely to become president, and 86 times more likely to die from being struck by lightning; events that most Americans admit are extremely unlikely. Local officials should put emphasis on educating citizens about gaming odds and on the addictive nature of gambling.