Stop Predatory Gambling

Wal-Mart refuses to sell predatory gambling products

by spgadmin

Once again, Wal-Mart has rejected efforts by state lotteries to sell lottery products in their stores. Read the story here.

Why does Wal-Mart continue to say no? Because predatory gambling hurts the financial condition of working families everywhere.

Promoted in the name of getting someone else to pay our taxes, predatory gambling is one of the key drivers in our debt culture and has split Americans into two classes of people: The Investor Class and The Lottery Class.

The Investor Class has mutual funds and other investment vehicles to save for retirement and their kids’ college education. 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 is to play the Lottery. We have turned 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 State Lottery. It is not possible to have a large Lottery Class and a strong, expanding middle class at the same time. Businesses like Wal-Mart rely on a strong, expanding middle class to grow. A large Lottery Class that is heavily in debt undermines Wal-Mart’s branding of “Save money. Live better.”

On this issue, Wal-Mart is right on the mark.