The Case For Casino Profits As A Benefit To Society
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Gambling is a popular pastime. It is human nature to forecast the outcome of a future event.
The argument for casino profits is that they benefit society. Prohibition failed to prevent gambling and increased gambling harms. The most vulnerable people are protected.
Gambling is legal in almost every US state except Hawaii and Utah. In Hawaii, the anti-gambling factions come from moralistic and cultural arguments. The rest of the US has realized that outlawing gambling does not make it go away. It just pushes it underground.
The internet has changed the way casinos operate. Off-shore casinos offer their customers no protections and have no benefits to society. Casino owners profit from their activities.
After the financial crash of 2008, several US states needed to balance their books. Internet lottery tickets were offered to be sold over state lines, but the 1961 Wire Act banned the use of telephone lines for gambling.
The Wire Act was only supposed to apply to sports gambling. However, it took many more years for federal restrictions on sports betting to be deemed unconstitutional. Now, companies are vying for the position of the best online casino in Michigan, Connecticut, Delaware, and West Virginia. Pennsylvania and New Jersey are also interested in the opportunities.
Lotteries and gambling have long been established ways of raising funds in the US. Lotterie revenues were used to fund churches, libraries, and colleges in 17th and 18th centuries. There were even sales of lottery tickets to raise funds for the American Revolution.
The money to buy ships for Jamestown Colony came from a lottery fund. The Virginia Company of London was set up to sell tickets, but they were not very good at selling them. In 1616 they set them up outside the capital with traveling salespeople flogging tickets.
The instant win games were a huge success, raising the equivalent of over $10,000,0000 in today's money. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and John Hancock promoted lotteries for specific projects. Public buildings, roads, canals were built from the proceeds. Some of the USA's earliest colleges were funded by lottery proceeds, including Harvard in 1636, Yale in 1701, Princeton in 1746.
Lotto was a form of voluntary taxation. The same spirit saw the rolling back of anti-gambling laws across the US at the beginning of the 2010s. Las Vegas has always been in favor of liberalized gambling laws.
Gambling is fun but it is addictive and can be destructive for some people. Regulated operators have safe gambling tools, which include deposit limits and self-exclusion. Anyone involved in a casino night out or an online casino should set a budget and stick to it.
