Below is a recent ad by the Colorado Lottery that shows the government program of predatory gambling in its full glory and is an example of how it has created two classes of people in America: the Investor Class and the Lottery Class.

While most of people are part of the Investor Class, putting money away in retirement accounts and 529 college funds for their kids, the state is turning millions of people who are small earners with the potential to be small savers into a new class of habitual bettors - the Lottery Class. They represent the 1 out of 5 Americans who, according to the Consumer Federation of America, think the best way to achieve long-term financial security is to play lottery games like Powerball – with its 1 in 195 million odds.

In these difficult economic times, why are public officials promoting a government program consisting of virtually worthless gambling products that prevents millions of low and moderate-income Americans from joining the class of savers and investors? Why not help people accumulate the capital they need to live the real American Dream instead of pushing them deeper into debt?

The Colorado Lottery, with a mocking sense of humor, labeled its ad "Break the Chains." 

Today’s New York Times has a story about a politically influential African American pastor in New York City who is an investor in a soon-to-be Queens casino.

The casino business model and its business practices are predicated on greed, deceit and exploitation by pushing addiction and indebtedness among our neighbors.

The second of Jesus’s two greatest commandments was “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” How can an authentic leader of any Christian community square this core principle with being a casino investor?

Yesterday there was another major story about the amount of injuries being inflicted by casinos and slot machines.

"Slot machines produce a trancelike state,” said Wiley Harwell, executive director of the Oklahoma Association for Problem and Compulsive Gambling. “People lose track of time and space. Logic and reason shut down. The back of the brain lights up They're literally not cognizant that they are spending more than they should." 

It explains why in 2009, more than 600 Oklahoma citizens contacted government officials to say they have a serious problem with slot machines – think of it as “an addiction acceleration problem.”  Those are numbers from just one year in a state with a population of about 3.6 million people…roughly one percent of the entire population of the U.S.

In a sharp contrast, Toyota is being forced to do a national recall of five million cars and trucks because the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had received reports of 100 incidents of “unwanted acceleration” over an eight year period. No one has referred to the one hundred drivers involved in these incidents as “problem drivers.”

Public officials must stop pointing their fingers at the people using electronic gambling machines as the “problem” and instead, focus their attention on problem machines, problem environments and problem business practices.

This reality is best illustrated by statistics from the Nevada Gaming Control Board. In 1997, there were about 197,000 slot machines in Nevada that won roughly $4.8 billion from gamblers. By 2007, the number of slot machines increased just 2.5 percent to 202,000, but the amount they won from gamblers jumped 72.9 percent to about $8.3 billion.

Electronic gambling machines have “an addiction acceleration problem” and they deserve the same intense scrutiny as any other product in the marketplace.

The key reason why these machines have avoided investigation is because government does not promote Toyota sales like it does predatory gambling in its endless pursuit for revenue.

Nearly every state Attorney General in America has sued subprime lenders for their predatory lending practices. Congress acted to roll back the predatory practices of credit card companies. Yet across the country, there is a massive effort to expand the most predatory institution still standing in America – the government program of predatory gambling.

Watch this brief video produced by The New York Times that interviews people about the government program of predatory gambling. Why is government, in our name during these economic times, encouraging people to lose the little money they have on virtually worthless gambling products?

Mobile County (Alabama) District Attorney John Tyson questioned whether Milton McGregor, who operates more than 6,000 electronic bingo machines at Victoryland casino in Shorter, Alabama, crossed a legal line when he hired a detective to recently follow a state law enforcement official.

''Mr. McGregor needs to be concerned about whether or not he's going to intimidate law enforcement officials from doing their jobs. I think it borders on obstruction and we are going to look into that immediately,'' Tyson said.

McGregor defended his actions Monday. ''You can monitor activities going on around you. Everyone is entitled to do that,'' he said.

Most predatory gambling traders say their “service” is no different than other forms of entertainment. They describe it the same as drinking wine, going out to a restaurant or going to the movies.  Yet the owner of the vineyard drinks the wine he makes. The owner of the restaurant eats the food he serves.  The movie actress watches the movies she makes. This is the only product or service where most of the people who own it and promote it, don’t use it.

After D.A. Tyson questions McGregor about intimidating law enforcement, his next question should be how much does he use and lose on electronic gambling machines?

Why? Because like Steve Wynn has said before: you don’t make money gambling in a casino. You only make money by owning the casino.

The New York Times recently reported that New Jersey lawmakers have passed a bill that would allow state officials to get jobs working for firms that work for casinos immediately after leaving office.

Currently, state employees and board members must wait two years before accepting jobs with firms that represent casino interests. The only exception is former judges can immediately go to work for law firms that represent casinos.

Under the bill, officials could do a wide range of jobs for casino contractors -- including planning, accounting and lobbying. But the individuals could not work on the casino accounts.

The predatory gambling trade needs stricter oversight yet this bill weakens it. Why would the New Jersey legislature further increase the political power of casinos at a time when more and more people are raising serious questions about their business model, their “products” and their predatory marketing practices?

The path to fixing our economy and our democracy starts at the front door of the almost 800-plus casinos in America today.

Pam Zubeck of the Colorado Spring Independent writes a terrific story this week on the Colorado Lottery.

Zubeck writes: “In 2008, Carnegie Mellon University looked into why the jackpot dream seems particularly attractive to people with low incomes. Researchers found low-income people see the lottery as their best opportunity to enrich themselves, or at least crawl out of poverty — although, ironically, spending on the lottery can worsen the economic situation they're trying to escape.”

The government program of predatory gambling has turned the American Dream upside down. It’s up to us to change it back.

Workers are sanitizing Harrah's Cherokee (NC) Casino after 200 people became ill at the facility. Officials at the casino said that those 200 people, which include both guests and employees, reported nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

The Jackson County Health Department said it is an outbreak of gastrointestinal distress and are running tests to determine what kind of virus may have caused the outbreak. Casino officials said they are working with the Health Department to stop the illness from spreading.

Yet casinos like Harrahs make hundreds of thousands of people sick every year by pushing highly addictive gambling products like electronic gambling machines, turning them into gambling addicts. The machines are designed to treat every user like a potential addict.

We have had an outbreak of problem gambling and it is time public officials ran “tests” on electronic gambling machines, the environment in which they operate and the predatory marketing behind it all.

Only then will America know the facts behind the massive outbreak of the Swindle Flu that has afflicted millions of people and their families.

As the nation honors the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King today, it is fitting to consider how Dr. King would view the major challenges facing our nation.

There can be no doubt that Dr. King would be standing alongside us in the emerging national movement to stop the government program of predatory gambling. He would have said it defies the purpose and promise of America.

In his view, racial justice could only be achieved with economic justice. Here is an excerpt of King in his own words addressing union Local 1199.

Guess where the FBI found a Massachusetts man fleeing federal charges for running a $28 million Ponzi scheme? A casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. The FBI tracked him to Mississippi after he left (yes, follow your instincts here)… Las Vegas.

It is no coincidence. Predatory gambling is another kind of something-for-nothing scheme in which the people who own it and promote it don’t spend their own money in it.

America’s “Las Vegas ethic” of greed, exploitation, corruption and something-for-nothing schemes is the biggest challenge our country faces. It has done more to undermine the long-term prospects of America’s economic and civic life than other external threat.  

We can go a long way to changing this Las Vegas ethic by dismantling the government program of predatory gambling.

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell recently signed a new law expanding predatory gambling which included legalizing table games and allowing casinos to extend credit to players.

In a media interview, Rendell believes his state didn’t have much choice since extending unsecured credit to patrons is an accepted industry practice:

“Our folks are going to gamble whether we have it or not,” he said. “And if they need credit or they want credit, they’re going to go to venues that make credit available. So that doesn’t upset me. You know, in the palace of truth and justice it shouldn’t exist anywhere. But it doesn’t upset me because you have to view this in the context of reality.”

The reality, he said, is that if not having casinos in Pennsylvania would keep state residents away from gambling, he wouldn’t have pursued legalized gambling in the first place.

Can you imagine if Rendell’s view that America is not “the palace of truth and justice” had prevailed throughout our nation’s history? There would have been no movement to free the slaves. No movement to give women the right to vote. No movement for civil rights.

Governor, America represents the palace of truth and justice more than any other civilization in the history of mankind. While our nation is imperfect, we have always strived to more truly represent our founding ideals. The government program of predatory gambling is inconsistent with this aim.

A 49-year-old seventh grade English teacher in New Hampshire was arrested last week for robbing two banks in Massachusetts and one in Connecticut, walking away with as much as $3,000, police charge. After robbing the bank in Plainfield, Conn., she went to nearby Mohegan Sun Casino, police said.

The description given by the three banks was that of a short, middle-aged woman, wearing a heavy winter coat and scarf, police said. She was unarmed and slipping tellers hand-written demands on envelopes.

After being arrested and released on bail, she was ordered by a judge to undergo evaluation by Gamblers’ Anonymous.

Can anyone think of another government program that can turn a seventh grade English teacher who appears as “a short, middle-aged woman, wearing a heavy winter coat and scarf” into a bank robber?  Has such a bank robber ever existed?

At the close of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on September 18, 1787, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin as he emerged from the long task now finished: "Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" "A republic if you can keep it," Franklin famously responded.

If Franklin were alive today and observed the present conduct of Pennsylvania state government, he would unequivocally declare that is not how we can keep a republic.

This week government agencies were told to start planning for staff furloughs in case the state legislature does not pass a bill expanding legal gambling by the end of this week.
 
Governor Ed Rendell announced last month that eliminating government jobs would be one of the steps necessary to plug the $250 million budget hole if the state does not enact predatory gambling legislation.

 
"I sincerely hope furloughs do not become necessary, but as I said last month, at this late date, I must create a plan to balance the budget if we cannot generate the revenue we anticipated," Governor Rendell said on Monday. The governor set a January 8 deadline for passage of table games legislation before the furloughs begin. The state says 995 out of 51,577 positions may have to be cut, including one in the governor’s office.

That’s right…you read it correctly. According to Rendell, the future of state government in Pennsylvania hangs in the balance because of…casino table games? Just like property tax relief for homeowners in that state was dependent upon legalizing more than 60,000 slot machines. And how college tuition relief for the state’s young people was hinging on legalizing 40,000 video poker machines in bars and taverns.

The government program of predatory gambling is the biggest and most damaging scandal to hit our republic in the last fifty years. It has exacerbated the massive budget deficits facing America and is a major driver behind the personal debt culture that is shrinking our country’s middle class. We need to stop it now.

Predatory gambling opponents in Maine put together a concise and compelling video revealing how the predatory gambling trade has deceived the citizens of that state. 

Predatory gambling interests turned in petitions yesterday aiming to force another referendum next year on whether to allow a casino in western Maine.

Maine voters have repeatedly rejected such initiatives since 2003, when a proposal by two of the state’s Indian tribes for a $650 million casino was turned down. Since then, state voters have rejected casino proposals in the Canadian border city of Calais and last year shot down a proposal for a casino in Oxford County.

“The voters are ready - ready for economic development,’’ said Peter Martin of Black Bear Entertainment LLC, which wants to develop a four-season casino-resort in Oxford. “People of Maine are tired; they’re frustrated.”  Martin also called his something-for-nothing scheme “the largest private education stimulus package ever offered in the state of Maine.”

If Martin believes the voters of Maine truly support predatory gambling, then he should agree to a campaign spending cap. Why spend millions of dollars in lobbying efforts if the voters are really “ready” for it?

Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new Boot Hill Casino in Dodge City, Kansas yesterday. The casino opening is significant because it represents the first state-owned casino in America. Kansas state government is now “the house.”

There is no more compelling symbol about how we as a country are on the wrong track then the fact that our government is literally acting like a casino. How do we build a country based on another kind of Bernie Madoff “something for nothing” scheme? How do we sustain our democracy in which everyone is considered to be equal yet government, through its embrace of predatory gambling, has declared some of our fellow citizens as expendable?

Lauding the casino as a boon to western Kansas, the governor said "I think it's a great Kansas story that the very first casino in this state isn't a high-priced casino in Kansas City." Kansas Senate President Steve Morris told the audience that having the first casino in the U.S. with direct state oversight would make visitors to Boot Hill more “comfortable.” Carol Sader, chairwoman of the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission, said "We're looking forward to the Boot Hill Casino becoming the proving site for gambling with integrity."

The proving site for gambling with integrity? Predatory gambling is the antithesis of integrity because it is deceptive, addictive and predatory.

There are many well-intentioned public officials and media who promote predatory gambling who know virtually nothing about the business model, the product and the marketing behind the predatory gambling trade. Because if they did, most would be standing alongside us. And someday soon they will be.

NBA Commissioner David Stern said in this Sports Illustrated interview that he is open to legalized betting on professional basketball games.It’s bad for the game of basketball and it’s bad for America.

The casual bettor is not relevant to these money-making schemes…it’s the addicted and heavily indebted person who provides nearly all the gambling losses in the predatory gambling trade.

Contact the NBA offices here and let them know that allowing widespread betting on NBA games would be a serious mistake. Predatory gambling and sports don’t belong together.

The Las Vegas Sun reports about the new Sex in the City slot machine based on the hit TV show. According to the story:

Although typical slot machines feature one screen of spinning reels, this game divides the screen into four sections, with four games going at once. The game is part of a product line called MultiPlay that encourages gamblers to play multiple games. Playing one game isn’t much fun because only one-fourth of the screen lights up.

Playing multiple games, such as multiple hands of blackjack, is presumably more stimulating but can be expensive. The cheapest spin of the “Sex and the City” game costs $2, as a minimum of 200 credits at 1 cent each will cover all four games. Gamblers can wager up to three credits on each of the 30 “paylines” attached to each game, or $6 per spin. At 5 cents per 200 credits, a spin would cost $10.

One commenter who posted beneath the story wrote: “The player is expected to pay $50-$500 per hour to PLAY a game as the game is entertaining you. There is no winning. Stay away from all slots until real GAMBLING odds return, and the gambler has a chance to win. If you want to play a game buy a video game consol, you can play and not pay. This shift from paying to playing has ruined Las Vegas and wiped out the casual gambler. People want to play and win, not just pay to play. Paying to play without a chance at winning is not entertainment.”

Exactly. And that is why predatory gambling is the only product or service where the people who own it and promote it don’t use it.

Pennsylvania citizens opposed to predatory gambling have been working hard to defeat legislative efforts that would allow casinos in their state to extend credit to gamblers. The Philadelphia Inquirer has a report here.

Predatory gambling opponents visited the West Philadelphia headquarters of Democratic state Sen. Vincent Hughes to make their case. He met with the group and promised to raise the matter with the rest of the Philadelphia Senate delegation.

Kimberly Everett, Hughes' director of communications, said the credit issue was "not necessarily" a deal-breaker in terms of the senator's support of new gambling legislation. She added that Hughes "was sensitive to the fact that this was predatory."

If Senator Hughes is indeed “sensitive” to the predatory nature of the casino credit/debt program, we urge him and his colleagues to have a full investigative hearing about the predatory casino business model and other predatory practices used by casinos.

The Wall Street Journal has a MUST-READ story about Terrance Watanabe, the Nebraska man who lost nearly $127 million during a year-long gambling binge at the Caesars Palace and Rio casinos in 2007.

The government is a full-fledged partner in the business practices used by the predatory gambling trade. Here are some highlights of the story:

In a civil suit filed in Clark County District Court last month, Mr. Watanabe, 52 years old, says casino staff routinely plied him with liquor and pain medication as part of a systematic plan to keep him gambling.

Several former and current Harrah's employees say their managers told them to let Mr. Watanabe continue betting while he was visibly intoxicated, even though casino rules and state law stipulate that anyone who is clearly drunk shouldn't be allowed to gamble. These employees say they were afraid they would be fired if they did anything to discourage Mr. Watanabe from gambling at the casinos.

Harrah's Total Rewards Player's Club system, a loyalty program similar to that of other big casinos, created a special rank for Mr. Watanabe, "Chairman," according to the filing and several employees. Before Mr. Watanabe, the most exclusive rank was "Seven Star."

One reason Mr. Watanabe was seen as so valuable to Harrah's, say Messrs. Deleon and Kunder, two of his handlers, is that he gravitated toward games with low odds, including roulette and slots. "He was considered a 'house' player because slots and roulette are house games -- they have terrible odds for the player," says Mr. Kunder. "And the way he played blackjack, he made it a house game. He made such bad decisions on the blackjack table."

Several employees say Mr. Watanabe would stay at the tables for up to 24 hours, sometimes losing as much as $5 million in a single binge. He was allowed to play three blackjack hands simultaneously with a $50,000 limit for each hand. At one point, the casino raised his credit to $17 million, according to court documents.

…When Mr. Sullivan, the Iowa casino host, visited Mr. Watanabe in Las Vegas during the height of his binge in 2007, he says, Mr. Watanabe appeared incoherent and had trouble remembering details of conversations. Other employees recall Mr. Watanabe stumbling around and dozing off at casino tables, some of which were located next to a nightclub blaring loud music.

Mr. Kunder and Mr. Deleon say they both voiced concerns to managers that Mr. Watanabe was too intoxicated, and were told not to get involved. "Nobody wanted to be the one to cut him off," Mr. Kunder says. "We were afraid of what upper management would do if he left because of our actions."

Mr. Watanabe alleges that during this period Harrah's not only didn't make him leave when he was drunk, but it plied him with alcohol and prescription drugs to encourage him to stay and gamble. Several Caesars employees say there was no policy to keep Mr. Watanabe drugged or drunk. But, they say, staff knew the company wanted to keep one of the Strip's most lucrative customers, and so looked the other way. A picture of him was hung in employee back rooms, they say.

In a country where everyone is considered equal, where all blood is royal no matter your race, religion or income, how can the state actively partner in a program that renders some of our fellow citizens as expendable?

Harrahs rightly created the special rank of “Chairman” for Watanabe: the Chairman of the Expendable Americans caste.

Bloomberg News has a report about yesterday’s predatory internet gambling hearing before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee. According to the story: 

A top Federal Bureau of Investigation official said internet-based poker games can be subject to manipulation. “There are several ways to cheat at online poker, none of which are legal,” Shawn Henry, assistant director for the FBI’s cyber division, wrote in a letter to Representative Spencer Bachus of Alabama.

“Technology exists to manipulate online poker games in that it would only take two or three players working in unison to defeat the other players who are not part of the team,” Henry wrote.

No better issue better symbolizes the choice we have for the future of America than the debate around whether to legalize predatory internet gambling. During the Great Depression, government leaders actively encouraged citizens to save money by buying savings bonds. That was how we as a country were going to pick ourselves up as well as pay for the war effort. Today, during the Great Recession, the daily voice of government encourages people lose their money on state-sponsored gambling products like $50 instant lottery scratch tickets, slot machines and now, if the predatory gambling trade gets their way, internet gambling.  

Our country can’t afford any more Bernie Madoff-style something-for-nothing schemes.

The St. Regis Mohawks of New York voted last week to stop efforts to pursue a casino in Sullivan County, a news event we highlighted. But the tribe announced Monday that its election board nullified the results after determining that the Nov. 21 vote didn't meet a 30-day public posting requirement.

The referendum asked tribe members whether the Mohawks should pursue development of a casino in Sullivan County. There were 178 "no" votes and 140 "yes" votes. The tribe has spent much of the past decade working to get approval for a casino in Monticello, 230 miles south of its reservation on the New York-Canada border. Tribal officials say another referendum will be held on a date yet to be determined.

The predatory gambling trade has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on political campaigns and lobbying efforts over the last decade misleading citizens and legislators to win votes. Yet now when they lose a vote, they use their power to try and overturn it.

The Las Vegas Sun has a news story today about new technology that will allow the first Vegas casino to network all of its slot machines on the floor, regardless of which company designed the machine.

According to the report:

“CityCenter will become the first Nevada casino to network its slot machines so that the casino, from a central computer server, can download games, marketing offers, coupons and customer greetings onto the machines.

Until now, slots were governed entirely by discretely programmed computer chips. These new slots won’t look much different except that some will feature flat screens whose content can be changed from a back room to reflect a newly downloaded game.”

Legendary casino owner Lefty Rosenthal once said the casino player has virtually no chance.  Now that casinos can network all of their slot machines, can we now say the player has zero chance?

The New York Times is reporting this morning that the St. Regis Mohawks, an Indian tribe at New York's northern border, is dropping its push to build a casino in the Catskills, 230 miles south of its reservation.

The tribe voted 178-140 against continuing an off-reservation predatory gambling project in a referendum held on Saturday.

The vote came as senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand have been pressing federal officials to reverse a Bush administration policy banning off-reservation casinos.

The Mohawks had hoped to build a casino with slot machines and poker in Sullivan County, 90 miles north of New York City.

The tribal members who voted to stop the push for predatory gambling deserve to be recognized for walking away from a something for nothing scheme that may have been personally beneficial to them but not to their fellow citizens. 

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that a Georgia state senator has pre-filed a bill that would force lottery officials to get legislative approval before they hand out bonuses to staffers.

The bill from Senate Majority Whip Mitch Seabaugh (R-Sharpsburg) would dissolve the current Georgia Lottery Corp. board and create a new one appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the House of Representatives. Currently the governor alone appoints the board.

The measure would also force the lottery president to get the board’s and a legislative panel’s approval before giving out bonuses.

Seabaugh prefiled the bill for the upcoming 2010 legislative session after the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the Georgia Lottery Corp. gave out $2.7 million in bonuses this year, up 8 percent from last year.

Lottery head Margaret DeFrancisco received a $204,034 bonus, up from $150,000 in 2008. That’s on top of a $286,000 salary, which was unchanged from 2008.

Lottery officials say the bonuses are commonly used in private industry to help retain top staffers.

However, the bonuses have upset lawmakers, who fear the lottery isn’t putting enough of the ticket-sale money toward HOPE scholarships and pre-kindergarten classes.

Georgia is the same state that furloughed 25,000 state workers at various agencies in early 2009 because of ongoing budget reduction requirements. The furloughs, which require workers to take days off without pay, applied to 27% of Georgia's total workforce of nearly 90,000. Yet despite these severe budget issues, the same state paid out almost $3 million in bonuses to lottery officials.

Wayne County Airport Authority officials say a newly approved contract to sell state lottery products at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport will generate more revenue for the airport.

The officials said contracts approved Tuesday will allow travelers to play instant lottery tickets, Daily 3 and Daily 4, Club Keno, Classic Lotto 47 and Mega Millions. Officials estimate the contract will generate $1.8 million over five years.

But do ”travelers” really buy the tickets sold at the airport? The Atlanta Airport has a large kiosk inside selling lottery tickets yet each time on our several recent visits, the only people at the kiosk were airport employees gathering on break to buy tickets.

That’s the government program of predatory gambling in action: deliberately targeting low wage workers to lose their money, pushing them deeper into debt.

The Kentucky Historical Society is adding some early items of the 20-year-old Kentucky Lottery to its collection. Here is an excerpt from the Louisville Courier Journal story:

 “We are trying to be pro-active in collecting materials that people see today and are common today,” said curator Andy Stupperich, adding that the items might be incorporated into some later exhibit, such as one that “lets people understand what was going on in Kentucky in the late 20th century.”

The society Wednesday morning took from lottery headquarters in Louisville these items:

* A drawing machine called the Beitel Criterion that was seen widely on televised drawings from 1989, when the lottery began, through 1993. During that time more than $350 million in prizes were awarded through drawings using the machine. It was most often used for the Lotto Kentucky and Cash 5 games.

Lottery spokesman Chip Polston said the machine dropped balls into a big bin, churned them around and then dropped the balls with the winning numbers down a slot. The machine was the first one used to conduct a legal lottery drawing in Kentucky during the 20th century. Beitel drawing machines at one time or another were used in lotteries in at least 40 countries.

* One of the original set of balls. Stupperich said the set originally had 50 balls, but several are missing.

* An original Kentucky Lottery sign that was probably once used by a retailer.

* A pull-tab vending machine.

Polston said the society first approached the lottery last spring about donating some items. Society representatives “thought they had hit the mother lode when we offered up the machine that conducted the first lottery drawing,” Polston said. The machine had stood inside the front door of the lottery headquarters in Louisville for 12 years.

Kent Whitworth, the society’s executive director, said the items will be added to the society’s collection of about 800,000 artifacts. “The acquisition of this original lottery machine speaks to a particular time period.”

Yes, Mr. Whitworth, a particular time period when our government regarded a large segment of American society as expendable by promoting highly addictive, debt-inducing gambling products to generate revenues. The creation of the Lottery Class violates America’s core democratic principles.

The lottery items also reflect a time period when our country has lost its economic values, a reality highlighted by New York Times columnist David Brooks in a MUST READ column.

History will show state-sponsored predatory gambling as one of our nation’s biggest mistakes. But it will also show our democracy’s resilient ability to correct itself.  

Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, one of the world's largest, has failed to make a full payment on its debt, leading to a default and another credit-rating downgrade to D, Moody’s lowest grade.

According to the AP wire story, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, which owns Foxwoods, said it has paid $14.2 million of the $21.25 million semi-annual interest payment that was due Monday on $500 million in debt notes. The tribe said it does not anticipate paying the balance within a 30-day period, resulting in a default.

The tribe, which has been seeking to restructure billions of dollars in debt, said its efforts are "separate and distinct" from operations at Foxwoods and will not affect customers, employees, suppliers or business partners.

Foxwoods, which has more than 7,000 slot and video poker machines and made more than $700 million in profits last year, is the most high-profile example of a tribe defaulting on its debt, said Megan Neuburger, director at Fitch Ratings.

She said investors have long wondered what would happen if a tribe, which has national sovereignty, defaulted on its debt.

What would Foxwoods do if an out-of-control gambler had defaulted on their debt? They would place liens on any property and liquidate all the person’s assets. And after the gambler had been “played to extinction” –  until all their money is gone and they have no financial value left to the casino- Foxwoods would put the gambler on their self-exclusion list.

Predatory gambling – the most predatory institution still standing in America.

According to a news report by The Oregonian, a major newspaper in the state, more than half the money the Oregon Lottery collects from video gambling -- about $375 million last year -- comes from a small number of Oregonians, many with big gambling problems.

These gamblers tell the lottery they lose more than $500 a month, every month. They represent only 10 percent of Oregon's video gamblers but account for 53 percent of the money lost, according to an analysis of three years' worth of the lottery's data obtained by The Oregonian under the state's public records law.

Losses from these heavy gamblers prop up the lottery's profits, which in turn prop up the state budget.

There are many well-intentioned public officials and civic groups who covet lottery cash to pay for schools, parks and other state services – but most have no idea what the real costs are.

It’s time “no taxation by exploitation” became part of the lexicon of American democracy and we end the predatory gambling practices like those used by the Oregon Lottery.

The Illinois Lottery is launching a new campaign to encourage people to buy lottery scratch tickets this holiday season. The campaign encourages people to “Joy Someone” by giving special holiday scratch-offs to the unsung heroes in their lives. Central to the campaign is a retro version of the holiday classic “Joy to the World”.

The campaign is brought to life through TV, digital. radio, outdoor, point-of-sale, and special karaoke taxi events beginning around Thanksgiving weekend.

As recently as thirty years ago, government used to actively encourage people to buy savings bonds as a preferred stocking stuffer. Now instead of helping citizens save money, government relentlessly promotes virtually worthless lottery tickets, pushing people deeper into debt.

Here’s the Illinois Lottery’s version of peace and goodwill:

The Baltimore Sun ran an article today about the recently released documentary American Casino which spotlights the shocking story of the subprime lending scandal, the U.S. financial system failure and how mortgage companies ripped off the poor. The filmmakers selected Baltimore as the setting to tell the story.

In a remarkable yet apparently unintentional contrast, The Baltimore Sun runs another story in the same paper about how Maryland slots commissioners signaled Thursday that they are prepared to approve a license for a casino near Arundel Mills mall, a project that would be the state's largest gambling venue.

Predatory gambling like casinos and lotteries are no less predatory than the subprime lenders except the only difference is the predatory gambling operators give state and local government a cut of the profits. It’s another kind of Bernie Madoff-something-for-nothing scheme.

The question for all the Maryland public officials promoting predatory gambling is this: Why do you think they called the movie American Casino?

Philadelphia citizens are rightly challenging legislation that would allow casinos to extend easy credit to anyone playing a slot machine. They are organizing an action outside of State Senator Shirley Kitchen's district office this afternoon at 1:30pm.

Participating groups include: Asian Americans United, Casino Free Philadelphia, the Media Mobilizing Project, Liberty Resources and the Kensington Welfare Rights Union.

According to the organizers, they will highlight “how an easy credit line is the rocket fuel for slot machine addicts, the lifeblood of this industry” and takes “recession-wracked citizens and drives them deeper and deeper into debt.”

How is government’s partnership with these kinds of practices consistent with its constitutional mission “to promote the general welfare”?

Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut is looking for a new voice to resurrect its catchy “Wonder of It All” theme song and has launched an online “American Idol”-type contest.

The contest is open to professionals and amateurs. To attract the younger clientele that Foxwoods has been targeting since the MGM Grand expansion opened last year, the casino is encouraging contestants to think outside the box, according to director of advertising Roy Colebut.

Here are some themes that will likely not appear in the new song:

“Play to extinction”, the phrase used by the predatory gambling trade to describe the intent behind the design of electronic gambling machines which is to get the user to play until all their money is gone;

“We miss you”, which is how Foxwoods began a direct mail letter to a New York woman  after she had already written the casino twice asking to be taken off their marketing lists because she was a problem gambler;

“Casino capitalism”, the term commonly used to describe our economic crisis which stands for using predatory practices, financial gimmicks and something for nothing schemes to promote an illusion of free money, all at the expense of unsuspecting Americans.

Education advocates are pressing the Oregon Lottery Commission to reduce what they say are overly generous payouts to bars and taverns that host the state's video gambling machines. Stand for Children and other groups say the lottery has provided excessive profits to those retailers, at the expense of schools and other programs that receive lottery dollars.

"The lottery was created to maximize benefits for schools and other public purposes, not to subsidize bars and taverns," Holly Pruett, the executive director of the group, said Tuesday.

Bars and taverns now get an average of about 24 cents for every dollar that gamblers spend in the lottery's machines. Stand for Children says the rate should be reduced to 16 percent.   

There are hundreds of well-intentioned people like Ms. Pruett who use the profits from predatory gambling to address important public priorities but possess little understanding about the predatory gambling trade’s business model. Or how it violates America’s core democratic principle of equal citizenship. Or the central role its played in creating a Lottery Class in our country. The Lottery Class represents the more than one out of five Americans who, according to the Consumer Federation of America, believe the best way to achieve long-term financial security in America is to play the Lottery.

The government program of state-sponsored predatory gambling has turned millions of people who are small earners with the potential to be small savers into a new class of habitual bettors. We have a shrinking middle class in America in large part because of predatory institutions and one of the very worst is the Lottery. It is not possible to have a large Lottery Class and a strong, expanding middle class at the same time.

When people like Ms. Pruett begin to understand the issue of predatory gambling, I predict she’ll be standing right alongside us because the way we raise money to help children says as much about our principles and values as the way we spend it. 

In 2008, the University of New Mexico signed a contract with the Laguna Pueblo casino that called for $2.5 million in support for UNM athletics in exchange for the casino being able to use the UNM Lobos as part of its marketing campaign. Commercials promoting the “Go Lobo Loco/Route 66 Casino” campaign now appear regularly on regional television.

In a column appearing in today’s Albuquerque Journal, Stop Predatory Gambling Chairman Dr. Guy Clark persuasively challenges UNM to end its partnership with the predatory gambling trade. Clark writes:

“The NCAA sends all participating universities reams of posters, usually placed in the athletic department locker rooms, warning student athletes against gambling. What hypocrisy for UNM to warn their athletes against gambling on one hand and trumpet their partnership with Route 66 Casino on the other.

Slot machines, the principle money-earner of the casino, are predatory addiction machines, programmed to be deceptive and addictive. What business does our principle state university have legitimizing predatory gambling? State universities, as other government agencies, should have the responsibility of promoting the "common good," not promoting a product that takes advantage of our most vulnerable citizens.

There is a reason why the NCAA and the professional sports leagues do not allow their members to gamble on games: it is because the culture of predatory gambling is corrupt and corrupting.”

Very well said. UNM should take action immediately.

The Massachusetts Legislature held a public hearing on casinos last week and not one of the gambling operators who testified denied that their business model, their product or their marketing was predatory.

1) They did not deny that casinos earn 90% of their gambling profits from 10% of the players, making 9 out of 10 casino visitors - the casual player- irrelevant to their business model. In a telling exchange, Senate Chair Karen Spilka pointedly asked a Mohegan Sun executive to respond to the 90%/10% fact and he deceptively provided her Mohegan's "property revenues" which includes revenues from non-predatory gambling sources.

2) They did not refute the powerful testimony by MIT's Dr. Natasha Schull that "electronic gambling machines are designed to treat every player as a potential addict" so the person will "play to extinction" - until their all their money is gone.  Nor did they deny Schull's research that modern electronic gambling machines are "a high tech version of loaded dice."  Can you imagine representatives from any other business testifying before a legislative committee right after a researcher from one of the world's most prestigious universities has just torn apart their core product and they don't offer even one response? 

3)     No one denied the testimony of Harvard Medical's Dr. Hans Breiter that the buzz or high people get from electronic gambling machines is "indistinguishable" from taking a hit of cocaine which is why when you put these machines in accessible locations where people can play them more than once a month, almost half the users have problem gambling behavior.

4)     No one rebutted the charge that casino marketing practices are more extreme than those used by subprime mortgage lenders leading up to America's foreclosure crisis. 

5)     They did not deny the testimony of other presenters that the casino business model is dependent upon getting people into debt. 

6)     And they did not deny the testimony that this is the only product or service where the people who own it and promote it, don't use it.

Predatory gambling is another kind of something for nothing scheme and the only people who benefit are the ones who own it.

In 2008, nine states considered whether to replace declining revenues with money from gamblers. Voters in five states (Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maryland and Missouri) supported ballot measures that expanded gambling in their states. Alaska, Maine and Ohio voters rejected their measures. Massachusetts voted to ban betting on existing dog racing. “Never a Sure Bet,” a new report  from the National Institute on Money in State Politics, examines the money behind these ballot measures.
 
Gambling proponents significantly outraised opponents in each of the states they were successful in, ranging from about 2 to 1 in California to 1,734 to 1 in Colorado. However, Alaska gambling interests were defeated, despite the fact that their opposition did not raise any money. Similarly, Maine’s gambling interests outraised their opposition 3 to 1 but were thwarted at the ballot box. Ohio and Massachusetts were the only states where opponents outraised proponents of gambling expansion. Penn National Gaming, which owns a casino in Indiana, contributed 98 percent of the funds to defeat the measure to expand gambling in neighboring Ohio. In Massachusetts, gambling interests opposed the measure to eliminate betting on dog racing in the state, while animal rights groups largely bankrolled the support.

An examination of the business sectors behind the measures shows that Indian tribes gave $157.4 million, more than half (57 percent) of all the money. Gambling interests were the next-largest donors, giving $104.5 million, or 38 percent. Combined, these interests gave 96 percent of all money raised around the measures.

The nonprofit, nonpartisan National Institute on Money in State Politics collects and analyzes campaign contribution information for state-level candidates, political party committees, and ballot committees. Its free, searchable database of contributions, as well as the full text of this report are available online at FollowTheMoney.org.

There’s more evidence the era of phony prosperity is over. Forbes runs a story today about how fears that casino visitors' spending will not bounce back for the rest of this year left shares across the entire predatory gambling sector broadly lower on Tuesday.

Harrah’s issued a statement saying the company's 2009 third-quarter results declined “due primarily to the impact of the recession on customers' discretionary spending.” That’s because people are saving more money and Harrah's business model is based on getting people into debt.

The news was not entirely bleak for all the predatory gambling traders. According to a financial analyst who covers the sector, Boyd's Borgata joint venture with MGM Mirage in Atlantic City, New Jersey, did better, mainly because “it's the best house in a really bad neighborhood.”

And it’s a really bad neighborhood where the people who own and promote the predatory gambling trade don’t live.

The Tennessee lottery is attempting to add the Mega Millions game to its lineup and will vote next Monday on the proposal.

Rebecca Hargrove, CEO and president of the Tennessee Education Lottery Corp. said new innovations aren't a reaction to the economic downturn."Whether it's a recession or not, you're always looking at what is the next product you want to introduce," she said.

There you have it. Here we are living through the worst economic crisis in eighty years and government lottery directors spend their time developing new and more predatory debt products to put in front of low-to-middle income people.

One woman quoted in The Tennessean story plays Powerball every week hoping to win a big prize. She can't wait for Mega Millions to come to Tennessee. "I'd play them both," she said. "If you don't play, there's no chance to win."

Respectfully, that’s exactly the false perception the Lottery aims to instill in citizens everywhere. The truth is even if you do play, at odds of one in 195 million, there is still no chance for you to win. Why isn’t government helping people like Ms. Hammonds win by challenging us to save money instead of encouraging people to lose their money on virtually worthless gambling products, pushing them into even deeper debt?

The government program of state-sponsored predatory gambling: the most predatory institution still standing in America and it is owned by you and me.

Jim Rubens, leader of New Hampshire’s No Slots effort, distributed an excellent email summary of a must-read report released October 21. Here’s an excerpt from his email:

Video slot machines became pervasive across almost the entire Australian nation by 1995. In both 1999 and again in 2008, the Australian government charged its Productivity Commission with assessing benefits and harms of gambling. On October 21, the Commission released its 630 page draft report.

"The Productivity Commission is the Australian Government's independent research and advisory body on a range of economic, social and environmental issues affecting the welfare of Australians. Its role, expressed most simply, is to help governments make better policies, in the long term interest of the Australian community."

The Productivity Commission found gambling to cost Australian society about $4.5 billion dollars per year, with over 75 percent of these costs deriving from video slot machines. These costs exceed benefits when abused dollars (or "excess" losses) by problem gamblers are included (page 3.22). Cost per year per adult translates to US$225 for all adults in the population.
 
Video slot machines, rather than other forms of gambling such as lottery or table games, "account for around 75-80 per cent of 'problem gamblers' and are found to pose significant problems for ordinary consumers." (xxiii)
 
42 to 75 percent of total machine losses are paid by moderate and high risk problem gamblers. (4.1)

"[A]round 50 per cent of machine gamblers have false beliefs about how gambliing machines work, which pose risks to them" (4.1). "Faulty cognition" about slot machine design is strongly associated with problem gambling. 33 percent of high-risk problem gamblers, 20 percent of moderate risk, and 5 percent of recreational gamblers believe that a gambler is more likely to win on a slot machine after loosing many times in a row (4.11).  Some groups of consumers - such as people with intellectual or mental health disabilities, poor English skills, and those who are emotionally fragile (say due to grief) - may be particularly vulnerable to problems when gambling (3.9). Slot machine profits and tax proceeds therefrom are predatory on weak and vulnerable members of the population.

The effect of widespread gambling machine availability on the economy can be seen in Australia, where gambling losses are now 3.1 percent of household consumption, 6.3 percent in Northern Australia (page 2.3).

The potential for significant harm from some types of gambling is what distinguishes gambling from most other enjoyable recreational activities - and underlines the communities' ambivalence towards it" (xx). "While many Australians gamble, they remain sceptical about the overall community benefits (figure 3.2). For instance, one survey estimated that around 80 per cent of Victorian adults considered that gambling had done more harm than good (with little difference between the views of gamblers and non-gamblers)" (3.8). Looking at all Australian surveys, roughly 80 percent of the public wants to see video slot machines removed or their numbers reduced (10.9).

A pro-casino group in Ohio reports it has spent nearly $32 million promoting a fall ballot issue that would authorize casinos in the state's four largest cities (and there is still twelve more days to go in the campaign.)

A state campaign finance filing shows the Ohio Jobs & Growth Committee spent $31.7 million. Nearly all the cash came from arms of its two main backers, Penn National Gaming Inc. and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert.

The ballot issue asks voters to approve casino construction in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo, agree to a 33-percent tax on the facilities for state and local programs and create a state committee to oversee a type of gambling that is thus far illegal in the state. Spending by its rival, the anti-casino TruthPAC, was not yet posted Thursday afternoon.

This is the fourth time the predatory gambling trade has paid for a campaign in Ohio. They were defeated in their first three tries and now they are spending $32 million to tell Ohio citizens to vote for something that supposedly they want.

It is another example of “the spend enough money until you win” strategy in action. It is also why the movement to stop predatory gambling will continue to grow across America.

Global Cash Access, a Las Vegas company that operates ATM machines in casinos around the country, said Tuesday it's working to resolve a problem in which about 40,000 customers nationwide were charged for cash withdrawals, but did not receive their cash.

No one was likely more upset by this event than the casinos themselves. As we have highlighted before, casinos monitor the ATM activity of their patrons better than most of the patrons themselves.

Here’s one recent example why: Penn National was recently fined $800,000 in Illinois for marketing to problem gamblers who had voluntarily banned themselves from entering a casino– a self-exclusion list. What was Penn National’s defense? As part of a campaign to develop new customers, the casino rented a list of names from a firm that operates ATM machines at Illinois casinos and the casino’s marketing department failed to check the list against the names of people enrolled in the Self-Exclusion Program.

But why does Penn National and casinos like it aggressively market to gamblers who take money out of casino ATMs? Because these gamblers are the ones most likely to lose control of their spending. They lost the money they arrived with at the casino and then needed to withdraw more of their savings to chase the money they lost earlier.

And these out-of-control gamblers are the lifeline for the predatory gambling trade’s business model. According to a recent book about the trade by a Wall Street Journal reporter, 90% of the gambling profits come from 10% of the gamblers.

The casinos want to be able claim they don’t know who these lucrative, out-of-control people are so they “outsource” the casino ATM operations to another vendor, the biggest of which is Global Cash Access.

They won’t be the biggest for long if they keep having technical problems with their ATMs because the casinos will lose their primary source of revenue: addicted, out-control people who use these casino ATMs.

For nearly 10 years, Maine voters have defeated referendums to legalize casinos yet the predatory gambling trade continues to come back again the next election cycle to push another casino referendum.

This same strategy, replicated in other parts of the country, is one more reason why Congress needs to take action against the predatory gambling trade. The trade has so much resources at its disposal that it simply grinds down the political machinery at the state level.

The time has come to put a national spotlight on the predatory gambling trade’s business model, its “products and services” and the relentless marketing behind all of it. Because if the people really wanted casinos in their state, why wouldn't they simply have voted for them the first time?

Bono, lead singer for the rock band U2, published an opinion piece in Sunday’s New York Times about how, in his view, “America might just hold the keys to solving the three greatest threats we face on this planet: extreme poverty, extreme ideology and extreme climate change.”

But there is at least one more important threat that needs to be added to his list: extreme greed and it is directly connected to the other three threats he identifies.

Extreme greed is at the root of our present economic crisis, appropriately described as “casino capitalism” – the use of predatory practices and financial gimmicks to promote an illusion of free money. Extreme greed is the driver behind the loss of economic values in America, leaving us exposed to a potentially long period of decline.

In his column, Bono writes that “America is not just a country but an idea, a great idea about opportunity for all and responsibility to your fellow man.” Extreme greed is the polar opposite of this “great idea.”

The crisis on Wall Street- AIG, Lehman Brothers, Bernie Madoff and so on - are all part of what’s been called “casino capitalism” – using predatory practices and financial gimmicks to promote an illusion of free money, all at the expense of unsuspecting Americans.

Predatory gambling is casino capitalism in its crudest form. Watch the brief video below of Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs (PA) CEO Robert Soper testifying before a PA Legislative Committee that his blackjack dealers in Connecticut, not including tips which come out of the customer's pocket, are paid somewhere between "$6 and $7 an hour" and, if table games are approved in Pennsylvania, his dealers would probably be paid even "lower."

Predatory gambling is another kind of Bernie Madoff-something for nothing scheme that will not rescue our economy. We’re going to have to get out of this economic crisis the old-fashioned way--by digging inside ourselves and getting back to basics: improving U.S. productivity, saving more, reducing our debt, strengthening our families, studying harder and inventing more products and services to export.

The days of phony prosperity are over.

Margaret DeFrancisco, Georgia Lottery Corp. president and CEO, was selected to be the next president of the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries (NASPL) this week. She will serve a one-year term in addition to her current role at the Georgia Lottery.

“We are at a crossroads in the industry with lotteries around the country and the world facing the growing challenges to increase profits for beneficiary programs,” DeFrancisco said. “To ensure future growth and success as an industry, we must collaborate and progress with innovative ideas and forward thinking.”

Forward thinking? Innovative ideas? Instead of encouraging citizens to save money so they can build the capital they need to become financially secure, lottery officials like DeFrancisco aim to get people to lose their money on virtually worthless scratch tickets and push them deeper into debt. 

Here’s an example of “innovative ideas” in DeFrancisco’s world:

Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut released an iPhone application this week that lets users play an electronic slot machine and offers tutorials on table games available at the casino. There's no actual money involved. The application must be downloaded through Apple's iTunes program.

The application is yet another form of marketing to promote the predatory gambling business model that relies on heavily indebted and addicted people for its profits.

Foxwoods' senior vice president of consumer marketing, Robert Victoria disputed the idea that casino marketing feeds addictions. "There are applications that help a person choose wine — they don't seem to endorse people to overindulge in alcohol," Victoria said.

But the winemaker drinks his own wine. Predatory gambling is the only product or service where the people who own it and promote it don’t use it.

Massachusetts announced this week residents will be able to buy Powerball tickets as a result of a new agreement allowing the multistate lottery game to be offered in the state.

Because Powerball and Mega Millions drawings are held on different days, there will be four big potential selling days for the Lottery during the week instead of two. The trend is obvious: as participation drops, the Lottery relentlessly pursues new ways to get more money out of fewer people by introducing more games that run more frequently with higher wagers.

So there you have it. In these economic times when low to middle income people are facing intense financial pressures from nearly every direction, government responds with a government program that shrinks the middle class even further.

What this is doing in Massachusetts is creating two classes of people: the Investor Class and the Lottery Class. While most of us are part of the Investor Class, putting money away in retirement accounts and 529 college funds for our kids, the state is turning tens of thousands of people who are small earners with the potential to be small savers into a new class of habitual bettors - the Lottery Class. They represent the 1 out of 5 Americans who according to the Consumer Federation of America, think the best way to achieve long-term financial security is to play the Lottery.

Bringing Powerball into the state “will be a win-win situation for everyone,” said State Treasurer Tim Cahill who also oversees the Lottery Commission. How can encouraging people to spend their money on a game that has 1 in 195 million odds be a “win” for them?

It’s certainly not a win for them. And what makes this government program even more objectionable is that predatory gambling is the only product or service where the people who own it and promote it don’t use it.

People just like Treasurer Cahill. "I don't gamble," Cahill said. "I never have."

Chicago may have lost its bid to host the Olympics but two Chicago aldermen, evidently bewildered by all the Olympic spirit, yesterday proposed to build a casino complex where the city had hoped to build an Olympic Village.

The Olympics promote the values of integrity and a love for our fellow man. Casinos promote the values of greed, deceit and exploitation.

Just imagine the Olympics casino-style. There would be no need for any kind of training because all participants are looking to get something for nothing.

In the Casino Olympics, only one group gets to win the gold medal and they win it over and over again. And “they” are the casino owners. There is no second place…everyone else becomes a loser.

The real Olympic spirit has endured for centuries because it appeals to the best qualities of the human experience. Casinos represent the total opposite.

A newly released report from the Nebraska Gamblers Assistance Program lists the average gambling debt of 250 people who sought gambling-treatment services in the last fiscal year at nearly $27,000. Most of the debt came as a result of citizens using state-sponsored predatory gambling products. Here’s a brief excerpt from a news story about the report:

Jerry Bauerkemper, the executive director of the Bellevue-based Nebraska Council on Compulsive Gambling, said that figure excludes the assets the gamblers already have tapped — such as annuities or 401(k)s — before maxing out credit cards or borrowing from other sources.

 

“The vast majority have cashed out a lot of other funds and reduced their outlay of funds fairly significantly,” he said. “Many times, they will stop buying health insurance. They will reduce their amount of money going out and then gamble that. Then they use credit cards and gamble that.”

State Attorney Generals in America have been suing subprime lenders for their predatory lending practices. Congress recently acted to roll back the predatory practices of credit card companies. Yet in many states, there is a massive effort to expand the most predatory institution still standing in America - state-sponsored predatory gambling.

The purpose of government is “to promote the general welfare,” a mission so important it was put into the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution.  It’s about helping every American become a winner.

Our movement to stop predatory gambling is the most politically diverse movement in the country, made up of people from the right and left.  No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, we can all agree that state-sponsored predatory gambling betrays the promise of America.