Stop Predatory Gambling

Thrill-seeking dreamers

by spgadmin

While states like Massachusetts are hotly debating whether to bring casinos into their states, the Orlando Sentinel has a story about another major element to the government program of predatory gambling: the Lottery.

The Florida Lottery “has shelled out millions” for its marketing firm, Ipsos-Reid, to help the agency understand its players and come up with strategies to get them to play more. That’s right. Government is actively trying to find ways to get its citizens to lose their money in these hard financial times.

The firm says players come in six categories, the most notable one being “Thrill-seeking dreamers.” According to the story:

This group makes up 13 percent of the population but accounts for 50 percent of lottery sales. Average age: 48. And 54 percent of the group is women. Players here are middle-income earners with slightly lower education levels. They have the highest level of play on all lottery games, especially scratch-offs and daily games. They visit Indian casinos, play bingo and are the most active of any group in Internet gambling.

Instead of encouraging people to dream and then go work for it, our government exploits those who dream, pushing millions of people into even deeper debt.