Renegade Posted April 5, 2006 Report Posted April 5, 2006 What I don't understand about your postion is that you favour the government being in the gambling business but not in the business of selling liquor. Why the distinction? Don't the issues you have stated apply just as much?Liquor is a physical product that can be taxed directly. This means gov't still has the ability to get the lion's share of revenue sales and, more importantly, can limit demand by increasing the price.With gambling the gov't could take part of the profits from private operators but it has no way to limit demand for gambling by increasing the 'price'. Are you saying that your distinction is based upon the fact that with liquor the government taxes revenue but with gambling the government taxes profit? So why can't the government tax gambling revenue instead of profit? Quote “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.” - Thomas Jefferson
Riverwind Posted April 5, 2006 Report Posted April 5, 2006 Are you saying that your distinction is based upon the fact that with liquor the government taxes revenue but with gambling the government taxes profit? So why can't the government tax gambling revenue instead of profit?The gov't could allow thousands of liquor stores to open and still be able to control demand by increasing the prices (i.e. taxes). Gambling has no direct cost which can be used to discourage people from 'purchasing' the service therefore the only way to limit demand for gambling is to limit the number of places to gamble. Today, the gov't does license casino operations to firms that specialize in running casinos but this relationship is more like a outsourcing partnership than a truely indepedent business. This hybrid is a reasonable compromise between govt ownership and private sector involvement. Quote To fly a plane, you need both a left wing and a right wing.
Smithers Posted April 7, 2006 Report Posted April 7, 2006 I lose 800 dolars on jacks or better one nitgh. lol it was fun times tho Quote
shoop Posted April 12, 2006 Report Posted April 12, 2006 What are you joking on your first point? Casinos in Vegas get caught all the time (very quietly mind you) screwing with the odds. People are greedy all over the place. I've spent a lot of time at tracks and casinos for a variety of reasons. I agree that people should have the option to gamble if they want. However, I have seen a lot of lives ruined in the process. Kinda like booze. There should be good access to programmes for problem gamblers. The information should be posted prominently anywhere. One of the reasons I got out of the casino business I truly did find it karmically bad watching the same people lose money day after day, knowing many of them couldn't afford it. First - there is too much money to be made with a pure fair random game to risk doing anything fishy.Second, IMO in a free society grown adults are free to make choices - even those that harm themselves such as smoking, drinking etc. I wouldn't give that up for anything. The idea of the puritan society with no ills or vices makes me gag. We have enough of a nanny state as it is without papa government telling us what we can and cant do with our money. Nothin wrong with burning off a hundy or two at the track, the craps table or the VLT IMO. My two cents. Quote
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