Why is it Only Okay When the Government Runs the Racket? Let Gamblers Gamble

A. Barton Hinkle  writes:  Baptists do not abide drunkenness, which is why (it has been said) they never recognize one another in the liquor store. In much the same vein, Virginia will not abide gambling.

Gaming and the laying of odds, however, are another matter.

Gambling is a low and dirty act that starts in cupidity and ends in crime, bankruptcy and broken homes—or at least so say its foes, as they have been saying for centuries. As early as 1727, Virginia adopted the Statute of Anne—which rendered gambling debts unenforceable—and in 1744 the colony prohibited gambling in public places altogether.

Such attitudes linger today. Thirty-nine states have some form of casino gambling, but Virginia is not one of them, noted a Washington Post article a little while ago. The story quoted Richard Saslaw, the Democratic leader in the state Senate: “Forty-nine states will have it before we get it,” he said before adding, “maybe 48” — a nod to Utah’s Mormon ways. Small chance, then, that Sen. Louise Lucas’ proposal will win approval. She wants to introduce casino gambling to Hampton Roads.

Yet if gambling as an end in itself is an outrage against decency in the state’s eyes, then wagering as a means to other ends is something else altogether. Thus the state runs a hugely successful lottery. And like all those in the numbers racket, Virginia’s “house” fixes the odds in its own favor: Last year alone, the state raked in nearly half a billion from suckers who played its games of chance and lost.

But the official line denies that this constitutes gambling. It is, rather, government-provided “fun”—and it raises money for the schools! One hundred percent of the state’s proceeds go to Virginia’s K-12 education system, the lottery website notes. (It does not note that this transfer thereby frees up money for lawmakers to spend on other things.)

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