Play Me!

Man is a gaming animal.
He must always be trying to get the better
in something or other
--Essays of Elia, Charles Lamb

Casinos and prostitutes have the same thing in common;
they are both trying to screw you out of your money
and send you home with a smile on you face
--VP Pappy

Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math
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We all know the states are smarting. The Sunshine State just signed on to its second foray into gambling, signing an agreement with the Seminole tribe allowing casino gambling on reservation lands. The state expects more than $1 Billion in revenue from the venture over the next five years (Seminole Gambling Deal Passes Florida house Panel.)

Interesting how gambling money -- or, lost wages -- has morphed into state revenue. And our very own family values guy (Watch-Me-Marry-to-Prove-I'm-NOT-gay) Governor Crist was just beaming as he closed the deal which, however, seemed to conflict with his later statement regarding his posture on taxes.

Crist also said he favored tax relief for homeowners. How can Crist talk about tax cuts when he is relying on gambling to help fill the current revenue shortfall? Do any of our leaders exist is reality?

Both parties are to blame for allowing this farce, but especially how can Gov. Crist's Republican party of family values politick for such dissolute activity? Governments have no rightful place in Lottos and gambling casinos which, when conducted without the state's aegis, we call, "crime".

Gambling is not a victimless crime since there are always losers. The casinos and the state both have the ability to dictate the winnings. These are not innocent games of chance in which the mark enjoys the same odds as the house, though viewing the festive advertisements put out by the Florida Lottery Commission might lead you to think such.

"You Must Play to Win!" is a cruel double entendre implying if you play [pay] you've got a chance; or, you must play with positive intent [to win]. Either way, it's a no-go. The cards are stacked against the citizens.

Have we become so desperate for money that we forget the values that made this country a distinct entity?

Predatory Advertising

Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math
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Ranger does not play Lotto because it is a sucker's game operated by a corrupt state government designed to siphon money from desperate citizens who see no other way out of their financial straights, shy of robbing a zippy mart.

Ergo, they play lotto with the illusory hope of salvation caused by nothing but a crack at random luck and happenstance. Adverts for Lotto invite the unwitting saps to Play to Win. Nothing but a game, and how dangerous can that be, except when the desperate participants lay down $50 at a time, a sizable chunk of a week's earnings.

The actions of the state are deplorable and unconscionable. The television ads always stress what you can win, but never mention the infinitesimal odds of actually winning any of the money going into the vampire-like state system.

Where in the Constitution is there implied or stated authority for the state to gather revenue through gambling? Gambling is gambling, even when state-sanctioned. If it is illegal for the Mafia to run numbers, then so too should it be for the state. The state should be held to a higher standard than is organized crime.

When this type of advertising is used by salesmen, disclaimers are always present along with related consumers affairs information. Why is the state Lotto Commission exempt from truthful disclosure in their predatory advertising?

With the cheery colors and confetti and official logos, these ads must seems to many to have the imprimatur of the state. Is it too much to suggest that these insistent ads pitch an aspect of wholesomeness, much as if they were the state Department of Children and Families or any other such agency constituted to help the citizens?

When state governments prey upon the poor and dispossessed, then it is clear that the American dream is a 22 million-to-one long shot. Would any rich investor buy a stock with a 22 million:1 chance of success?

Fleecing the Lambs

Oh, I don't claim to be no gambler people
Oh, I don't know much about the dice
--Gambler's Blues, B.B. King
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Here's a lovely bit of hypocrisy from the Sunshine State.

It concerns absconding with people's hard-earned money, writ small. These are not Wall Street deals, but they are transacted every week at your local grocery or convenience store. The big tabs ($50 and up) occur on paydays. This is how you fleece the lambs -- the lottery, or, the poor tax.

The Florida Lottery's Homepage is like a blaring, flickering Pachinko machine. The Lottery Department's annual report shows total assets at the end of fiscal year 2007 of $2.8 B (down from over $3 billion the previous year.)

To counter addictions to such losing propositions is the Florida Counsel on Compulsive Gambling. The counsel makes do with donations and a $1 million budget from the state appropriated from Lotto earnings. That's roughly .ooo3% of the Lotto's annual take.

There are those who argue that people should be allowed to be as stupid as they want to be. But in the current atmosphere of astronomical bailouts going to those who knew better but did not act better, one wonders how much aid should also be sequestered for those who will never be in that league but nonetheless pay a disproportionate amount of their income in this poor tax.

Lotto's advertising budget wasn't clearly available on their annual report, but we'll wager it's a damn sight more than the pittance given to the gambling help association. Governor Charlie Crist has proclaimed the second week of March as Problem Gambling Awareness Week within the State of Florida.

What more could he possibly do?