Lowering the Standard of Living for Ordinary Citizens

Lotteries Generate More Revenue Than Corporate Income Taxes in Some States

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In this Reuters piece, David Cay Johnston examines the shift in 11 states that shows, lotteries, the most heavily taxed consumer product in America, generate more revenue than state corporate income taxes. For example, the Rhode Island Lottery netted the state more than $3 for each dollar of state corporate income tax in fiscal 2009. Johnston also spotlights how the increasing trend toward easy reliance on lotteries has not translated to increased revenue for states.

U.S. Lotteries and the State Taxman

LesLotteries Generate More Revenue Than Corporate Income Taxes in Some States
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The Effects of Video Poker in South Carolina

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In 1997, Dr. Quinn founded the South Carolina Center for Gambling Studies and directed a statewide study of Video Poker’s impact on South Carolina. This study outlined the pattern of devastation Video Poker was having on average citizens and demonstrated the uniquely addictive nature of electronic gambling. Dr. Quinn’s study and a follow-up study with Dr. William Thompson of UNLV focusing on the economic impact of Video Poker in South Carolina, contributed greatly to demise of Video Poker in South Carolina.

Here are some key findings from the research:

1. The combination of electronic gambling and convenience venues is extremely addictive and destructive.
2. Minorities and women in particular appear disproportionately vulnerable to video poker.
3. People often gamble more often and/or longer when they are induced.
4. Sometimes people gamble and develop pathology because they have the opportunity.
5. The pathology associated with video poker, unlike other forms of gambling, may prove to be largely non-transferable.
6. The long term economic and social costs associated with gambling are often ignored by political processes obsessed with short term and visible financial gain.

Report of The Quinn-Pike Video Gaming Study

An Economic Analysis of Machine Gambling in South Carolina

CkirbyThe Effects of Video Poker in South Carolina
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The Ugly World of Casino Debt Collection

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Casinos often give out loans (or “markers” as they are known) to players in need of cash. To keep them coming back, casinos generally charge an interest rate of 0% and give players several months to repay loans that can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. But when players can’t pay the loans back, casinos send a demand letter and can refer the case to the local District Attorney’s office bad check unit which prosecutes such crimes. Sometimes casinos file a civil suit as well. In addition, casinos (like other debt collection agencies) do not have to abide by regulations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Stop Predatory Gambling Memo – Casinos and Debt Collection

CkirbyThe Ugly World of Casino Debt Collection
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Thrift or Debt: Which Direction is Right for Texas?

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The Texas Thrift Coalition is a nonpartisan, volunteer group of leaders and organizations whose goal is to promote thrift and encourage savings as a path to family prosperity in Texas. In 2011, the group published Thrift or Debt: Which Direction is Right for Texas? which found: Texas families face a savings crisis; anti-thrift institutions are trapping Texas families in debt; Texans see a danger in the rise of the anti-thrifts; Texans oppose the expansion of state-sponsored gambling; and Texans want to save more. The coalition issued the following recommendations:

To Oppose Debt

  • close payday lenders’ “lucrative loophole”
  • protect military families from payday lenders
  • vote “no” on casino gambling


To Support Thrift

  • to create a Texas “Savings Ticket”
  • promote alternatives to payday lenders
  • bring back national thrift week

Thrift or Debt – An Appeal to the Texas Legislature From the Texas Thrift Coalition

CkirbyThrift or Debt: Which Direction is Right for Texas?
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North Carolina Community College Students Become “Collateral Damage”

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The North Carolina House recently voted on a budget that will cut financial aid from lottery funds to low-income community college students. Since creating the state Lottery in 2005, lawmakers have “tinkered with the formula” that initially allocated 10 percent of half its net proceeds to need-based college scholarships.

Aid to North Carolina Students Cut to Repay Debts

CkirbyNorth Carolina Community College Students Become “Collateral Damage”
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Predatory Gambling Negatively Affects Families

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A 2010 article from the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada details the evidence linking gambling addiction to negative socio-economic consequences for Canadian families as the government attempts to “chase after increasing revenue.”

Government Gambling and Broken Families: How Problem Gambling Affects Families

CkirbyPredatory Gambling Negatively Affects Families
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The Reverse Robin Hood Effect

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Using data acquired from the Florida Lottery Commission, Florida scholars assessed what groups were benefiting from the lottery-funded Florida Bright Futures Scholarships and who were being harmed. Not surprisingly, the study reported that the “net benefits of the scholarships accrue disproportionately to counties with heavier concentrations of white, wealthy, and well-educated households.” The study concluded by stating: “If the Florida Bright Futures Scholarships are going to be made more equitable, the citizens who are harmed — the poor, the less-educated, and minorities, as well as citizens who care about fairness — need to get involved.”

The second study below uses survey data and finds similar results.

The Reverse Robin Hood Effect – The Distribution of Net Benefits From the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship

Some Futures Are Brighter than Others – The Net Benefits Received by Florida Bright Futures Scholarships

CkirbyThe Reverse Robin Hood Effect
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West Virginia Legislature Votes to Fund State’s Racinos

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In March 2011, West Virginia’s State Legislature voted on a bill that will use $10 million from an existing lottery to fund the state’s racinos for 10 years. Del. Mitch Carmichael, of Jackson, called the bill “the most ‘ridiculous’ he’s seen in several years.”

“Why should we single out a particular industry, the gaming industry and the Greenbrier Hotel, to give them special $10 million giveaways from the people of West Virginia,” Carmichael asked. “I just think it sets the wrong priorities.”

West Virginia Legislature Votes to Fund Racinos with Public Money

LesWest Virginia Legislature Votes to Fund State’s Racinos
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Government-Run Gambling Bigger Than Organized Crime

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Should our democratic institutions be competing with organized crime for revenue? Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Monica Yant Kinney discovers an important distinction between illegal underground gambling and government-sponsored predatory gambling: “Bookies don’t prey on gamblers. Bookies don’t solicit. Gamblers find them.”

This lies in stark contrast to state governments using taxpayer money to solicit our fellow citizens to play the lottery and providing tax incentives to allow casinos to come to town.

Pennsylvania Competing with Mob Bookies

CkirbyGovernment-Run Gambling Bigger Than Organized Crime
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Internet Sweepstakes: Coming to a Strip Mall Near You

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Internet sweepstakes cafes are popping up all over the country. One of the highlights from the article below is a quote from someone making big money in the sweepstakes industry on his customer base: “Lower-income customers are coming in because they’re bad at math…It’s like the lottery. The lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math. They’re coming in to try and catch a big break.”

Strip-Mall Casinos Multiply Across Nation

CkirbyInternet Sweepstakes: Coming to a Strip Mall Near You
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