JOHN STOSSEL: March Madness Was Good Time For Reflection About Government’s Disgusting Hypocrisy On Gambling

Did you bet on March Madness?

I did, and many of you did, too. Americans bet billions on NCAA tournaments. We also “spent $60 billion at casinos last year (and) about $12 billion on online sports betting,” notes economist Jason Sorens in my new video.

Sorens published a state-by-state ranking of gambling freedom across America. Nevada lets gambling flourish, while Utah, Hawaii and Georgia ban most of it.

Now some politicians want to ban more. Philadelphia mayor Cherelle Parker moved to ban arcade-style gambling machines found in gas stations and convenience stores, loftily saying, “It’s not OK to tempt our residents … to gamble away their hard-earned dollars.” Some states ban at-home poker games, occasionally even arresting players.

Bureaucrats at former President Joe Biden’s Commodity Futures Trading Commission tried to prohibit betting on elections. Now no-fun U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Richard Blumenthal want sports betting banned again.

OK, it’s true that gambling can create problems. The National Council on Problem Gambling offers help here. But gambling is also a kick. And in a free country, people should be allowed to take risks.

“This is a way of having fun,” says Sorens, “often in a social environment, doing it with friends, adding some extra ‘zing’ while they watch a game.” What bothers me is the raw hypocrisy of the politicians.

The same bullies who want to ban gambling don’t propose banning the worst form of it – their own state lotteries. “It’s ridiculous,” says Sorens, “You have politicians grandstanding (about gambling’s harm) … and at the same time, they advertise a worse form of gambling!”

Worse, because among all forms of gambling, government lotteries pay out the least.

Slot machines are a dumb bet, yet on average, they still give you back about 90% of what’s bet. Sports bettors and poker players keep more.

But state lotteries take almost half of everything bet! Worse, they take it from poor people. Lottery ticket buyers are disproportionately poor. Still, politicians approve their lottery scams because they want the money. Taxing people is unpopular. Ripping poor people off by offering bad odds on gambling games usually flies under the radar.

Politicians’ hunger for money is also why they forbid private gambling businesses to compete with them. Private lotteries were once big. Numbers runners took bets by phone.

Also, bookies took bets on horse races, providing “off-track betting” for people who don’t have time or money to get to the track.

Of course that reduced the government’s cut, so politicians banned both what they called the “numbers racket” and off-track betting. Then they created their own off-track betting. But the government is so incompetent, so inefficient, that its off-track betting parlors lose money!

“Government is always inefficient,” says Sorens. “Unions get their cut … wages are high, benefits immense. It’s another reason we shouldn’t want government running gambling operations. They do it at a high cost.”

Politicians are pompous hypocrites, calling gambling evil, banning it when they can, then saying, “Hey, come play our game!” They don’t mention that “their” games offer worse odds. This week, the price of a Mega Millions lottery ticket more than doubled. Years ago, they sneakily increased the number of white balls in the Powerball lottery, reducing your odds of winning to 1-in-292 million.

“In the private sector, we’re used to products improving,” Sorens points out. “Only the government running a lottery would make it get worse.”

I tried to confront the association representing state lotteries about their scams, but they wouldn’t agree to an interview. Instead, they sent a statement that says, “A state-run lottery system offers several key advantages … strict oversight, helping to ensure fair play, responsible gaming and full transparency.” Bunk.

Government workers are just as crooked as private bettors. In Texas, lottery officials helped certain companies win a $95 million jackpot. Politicians ban betting and pompously claim that they know best how we should spend our money. They destroy slot machines and arrest numbers-runners and bookies.

Then they run their own betting scams, which offer much worse odds. Politicians are disgusting.

Every Tuesday at JohnStossel.com, Stossel posts a new video about the battle between government and freedom. He is the author of “Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media.”

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