Meanwhile, Over at the State-Run Lottery…

As a side note on the whole Delaware sports betting issue…I lost a little more than $2,000 betting on sports online (back when it was legal to do so) over a four-year period. The money went to Jamaica - most, probably, to a scumbag casino owner who wasn't even Jamaican, but some portion of it went to the people who answered the phones, the people who set the odds, the people who cleaned their modest offices. If it were an option to wager on sports here in the U.S., I'm sure I would take advantage of the opportunity. My money would stay here, and the sports book would be taxed and licensed, and if I were ever lucky enough to win (fat chance), I'd pay taxes on the winnings.

My mom, who was very concerned that I'd gone down this road, used every opportunity to try to convince me to stop. Then, in one of our urgent-sounding phone calls, she admitted that she played the lottery every week. (Lotteries are exempted from all the gambling-is-evil discussions, and multiple-play parlay bets are exempt from the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, too.) In Connecticut, where she lives, the state-run lottery gives her 25 plays for $20, and every week for more than 15 years, she's been handing over her Hamiltons and letting the computer pick her numbers. She has won maybe a couple hundred dollars in that time - and lost $15,000 and counting.

powerball_lottery4.jpgpowerball_lottery4.jpg

Tell me, again, about the fabric of American society coming apart if I'm allowed to put twenty bucks on the Packers. Igglesblog got this one right - if betting on a game is morally wrong, then how come it's okay to bet three games?

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