Many Politicians Want To Ban Gambling. So Why Are They OK With State Lotteries?

Lottery ticket buyers are disproportionately poor, and the odds are very bad. But governments want the money.

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 President Joe Biden's Commodity Futures Trading Commission tried to prohibit betting on elections.

Now no-fun U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin (D–Ill.) and Richard Blumenthal (D–Conn.) 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 worse 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 percent 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 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.

COPYRIGHT 2025 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC.

Comments

[Vernon Depner]

You didn't actually name any politicians who support state lotteries AND oppose other forms of legal gambling.

[SQRLSY]

If he DID do that, and named ONE OF Your Favorite Members of "Team R" LeaderShit, or otherwise Hurt Your Precious Baby Feelings... YOU would be here cluttering and spamming "JS; dr" all day, every day, BRAGGING about your IGNORANCE! So quit yer bitchin' already!

(Besides that, John is afraid to do so, for fear of being sent to Gitmo or torture chambers in El Salvador, by Dear Orange Leader and Trumpanzees gone apeshit.)

[mad.casual]

I was also similarly looking for, and not finding, someone definitively arrested for just an at-home poker game and not effectively running a casino (or larger booking, racketeering, and loan scheme) out of their home or business.

Not that I believe it (generally) does (not) happen, but the libertarian distinctions between the taxman saying "Pay up or we break your thumbs.", the mafia saying "Pay up or we break your thumbs.", and a co-worker saying, "Nickel-ante poker night is at my house this Thursday." seems kinda critical.

[Moderation4ever]

I could not agree with John Stossel more about the hypocrisy of criticizing private gambling while turning a blind eye to government lotteries. I agree that gambling should be allowed and for many it is a harmless form of entertainment. I am however concerned that those in the gambling business tend to make the most money off those most gullible. The government lotteries attract the poorest. The private gambling apps tend to tempt those most likely to have gambling problems. I would suggest that first advertisement for gambling be prohibited and that promotional offers, like so much free money to start gambling or to continue gambling be prohibited.

[JasonT20]

I could not agree with John Stossel more about the hypocrisy of criticizing private gambling while turning a blind eye to government lotteries.

It isn't that it is a "blind eye" to state lotteries. They actively push them as a way to get voluntary taxes from those in the economic bottom half. Or, as the joke goes, its a tax on people that are bad at math. (Full disclosure, I'm addicted to getting a couple of quick pick lottery tickets once or twice a week, myself. I'm not immune to the fantasy of being able to tell my bosses where they can put my job and never having to work another day in my life.)

They always find a way to sell the lottery as being for "education" or some other thing that voters generally support broadly. But naturally, it isn't new or additional spending, but the same things that voters would have demanded anyway, but that would have come from general revenues, and thus taxes on everyone. The beauty of lotteries is that state governments can get revenue that people pay without complaint because lower income people and the working class are paying for the ridiculously long odds of winning enough to not have to be stressed about money anymore.

To add to the absurdity of lotteries, the jackpot is the only thing that can be decent payout compared to the odds, and then, only if it has rolled over several times without a winner. If you only play when that happens, and don't play when it is the starting jackpot or has only rolled over a few times, then the payout can be close to even to your odds of winning.

But all of the lesser prizes? Not even close to reasonable. No state gambling regulator would let a casino, horse track, or anything else get away with paying out so little compared to the odds. For instance, in the Florida lottery, getting 3 out of 6 numbers has 1 in 70.79 odds. A $2 ticket will win between $10 and $50. (The base prize is $5, but there is always a multiplier that is between 2x and 10x, which is itself randomly chosen. Obviously, higher multipliers are less likely.)

You get far better odds at a casino. The casino, from what I understand, is regulated so that it uses the Law of Large Numbers to get the expectation that large numbers of bets will result in the house winning often enough for the amount that it pays out in winnings to be some fraction of the total amount bet. Lotteries are supposed to be "at least" 50%, from what I can tell, but then they are never more than slightly over that. I doubt that even casinos on tribal lands pay out that little compared to the amount bet.

[JasonT20]

I agree that gambling should be allowed and for many it is a harmless form of entertainment. I am however concerned that those in the gambling business tend to make the most money off those most gullible.

I do think that due to the potential for predatory marketing, gambling needs to be regulated, including in how it is advertised. I'm not comfortable trying to draw lines without a lot more thought and research, but it is definitely something to be concerned about.

Gambling, as a business, is entertainment. It sells the excitement of the possibility of winning, of being the one that "beats the odds". Regulating commerce is a core power of government, and ensuring that consumers have a fair chance of winning, and that the gambling businesses are not exploiting people with gambling addictions, all while still allowing for a gambling business to be profitable just like a theater, sports venue, TV station, or whatever, is absolutely a reasonable use of that government power.

[sarcasmic]

Democrats did it first, so that makes it ok when Republicans do it.

[jimc5499]

Piss poor John. The games that the politician from Philly wants to ban are called "skills games". The reason for the ban isn't to help poor people. The reason is that they are taking revenue away from the Casinos. The Casino Lobby is using it's bought and paid for politicians to try to have them banned.

[Spiritus Mundi]

Many Politicians Want To Ban Gambling Stifle Competition

FIFY

[Homer Thompson]

when will get to play on pokerstars again without a vpn?

everything else is legal now

[Wizzle Bizzle]

You had me until here, John.

"Worse, they take it from poor people. Lottery ticket buyers are disproportionately poor."

You mean stupid people are disproportionately poor, and lottery players are disproportionately stupid. So you're all for gambling everywhere all the time until stupid people do what stupid people always do, and then you think it's predatory? In what sense is that liberty?

Sorry to tell you, but the entire problem with your philosophy is that you expect all of society to be able to handle unfettered access to everything. They can't. See: drugs, guns, obesity, etc, etc. You can believe in total freedom if you are willing to let huge swaths of people starve to death when their compounding bad choices catch up to them. But this whole compassionate libertarianism thing is fucking retarded.

[JasonT20]

You can believe in total freedom if you are willing to let huge swaths of people starve to death when their compounding bad choices catch up to them. But this whole compassionate libertarianism thing is fucking retarded.

I wasn't entirely sure where you were going with your post, but, if I am reading this correctly, it is one of the main problems I have with libertarianism. "Compassionate conservatism," as George W. Bush put it more than 20 years ago, at least is not inherently a contradiction. But libertarianism is not fully compatible with compassion, because it demands that helping people that struggle economically (whether it is do to their incompetence, stupidity, poor choices, or just bad luck) be done only by private charity. Any kind of social welfare by government for the people unable to fully help themselves is coercive "redistribution" that limits (their) freedom (from taxes).

Compassion means not walking past the person that was beaten and robbed that is lying on the side of the road. But even more than that, it means that you don't just help the poor and broken people that you see. If you know that there are poor and broken people suffering, but don't see them because they aren't lying on the side of a road you walk along, then you can't be compassionate and not do something about it.

If libertarians really think that private charity will do as well or better than government at helping people that need the kind of help welfare, Medicaid, SNAP, etc., provide, then show me a time and place where it did that.

[Longtobefree]

State lotteries are a tax on people who are bad at math.
Blame the teacher unions.

[mad.casual]

Blame them for failing to educate kids about math or blame them for being part of a system funded by lottery proceeds?

Nevermind, 20:1 they get off Scott free.

[charliehall]

Casinos are a PLAGUE and state lotteries are even worse.

[Vesicant]

>governments want the money.

In related news, the Sun rises in the East. I sure hope 'reason' isn't paying Stossel for those kinds of stunning insights into what is recondite to us peasants.