Youngkin: VALottery should be banned

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you feel about Gov. youngkin wanting to ban the VA lottery and introduce more gambling limits.

Link? There's nothing in the news about this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you feel about Gov. youngkin wanting to ban the VA lottery and introduce more gambling limits.

The lottery is a tax on the mathematically illiterate. If they want to keep throwing their money away, they should be allowed to.

As a libertarian, I agree with this. A free-market approach is fair to all.

“Let them” theory also counsels in favor of keeping the lottery. No one is forced to “play” the lottery.

[Anonymous]

I hate gambling and do not want casinos anywhere in my state for any reason whatsoever.

That being said, the history of lotteries is a fascinating one. Lottos were originally numbers rackets run by criminal elements. The guy dropping his entire paycheck today on scratchers at the gas station would have been dripping his entire paycheck with gangsters in the 1950s. Poor people have always been willing to pay for hope.

Banning gambling never worked because criminals don’t respect laws. What worked was the states taking over the numbers rackets and monopolizing them as “lotteries”. Paying for schools, elder care, etc was just a way to get the law abiding to go along. “See- the revenue is for good, not for some mobster’s flashy car or fur coat.”

State lotteries are fundamentally harm reduction. And for that reason, and that reason alone, I can support them.

[Anonymous]

Lotteries are like payday loan shops in that they extract money from those who can least afford it. Don’t have to support the governor to acknowledge that. Whether they should be illegal is a deeper question on how involved the government should be in our lives, so somewhat ironic it’s a R suggesting it.

[Anonymous]

I think there are reasonable ways to limit it without total bans. This sports gambling stuff has gone way way too far, it's basically inescapable at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you feel about Gov. youngkin wanting to ban the VA lottery and introduce more gambling limits.

The lottery is a tax on the mathematically illiterate. If they want to keep throwing their money away, they should be allowed to.

It's a tax on the poor.

Exactly. Mathematically literate people who aren't poor love the lottery because to someone with a decent income $2 a week for a Powerball ticket is for all practical purposes so close to $0 as to be interchangeable while buying the ticket increases your odd of winning a life-changing amount of money from 0% to >0%. So effectively you're paying $0 for a nonzero chance of winning.

Oh the irony....

I'm sorry that your finances are in such poor shape that $2 is something you need to worry about or event think about at all. I do hope things get better for you.

[Anonymous]

Please just ban sports betting. It's hurting a lot of families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The lottery funds schools. I'm fine with uneducated morons funding my kids' education. I don't want casinos in my neighborhood.

This

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is almost like he had 4 years to bring this issue up...

He has been praying on the matter for that long...

[Anonymous]

The lottery basically preys on the poor and uneducated. I think it should be banned.

[Anonymous]

He probably wants to replace it with PE-backed private gambling on your phone.

Follow the money, duh.