{"id":7389,"date":"2024-04-26T17:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/?p=7389"},"modified":"2024-04-19T19:01:05","modified_gmt":"2024-04-20T01:01:05","slug":"its-wrong-no-matter-who-sponsors-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/?p=7389","title":{"rendered":"It’s Wrong No Matter Who Sponsors It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I’ve written about gambling before. It’s bad enough that the gambling industry <\/em>is out to get you<\/a>. We’d expect that. But when the government sponsors it…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is Elliot Eisenberg, the economist who writes a daily 70-word blog:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 4\/3\/24, a drawing for a $1.09 billion Powerball jackpot will occur, the fifth largest. While the chances of winning are one in 292 million, Americans spent over $100 billion in 2022 buying lotto tickets and it\u2019s mostly the poor. In the poorest 1% of zip codes, the average adult spends about $600\/year or 5% of income, versus $150\/year or 0.15% of income in the wealthiest 1%. Talk about regressive.<\/em> – Elliot Eisenberg, “Lousy Lotteries<\/a>” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unconscionable! The poor spend 5% of their income on lotto tickets versus 0.15% of income for the rich. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it’s not getting any better in sports either. Last year I wrote about a Denver Broncos football player<\/a> suspended for gambling outside of “NFL Policy.” Now the NBA has banned (not suspended) a player for gambling violations, specifically limiting his own performance to reward those who took “under” in one of the many “prop bets<\/a>” that are being played these days. What’s worse, look at the CNN headline:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Do you see it? “gaming rules” not “gambling rules.” Interestingly, if you go to the article itself<\/a>, they do say “gambling.” My favorite Wall Street Journal sports columnist, Jason Gay, picked up on this story<\/a> with his usual wisdom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no safe level. A friend of mine became a compulsive gambler playing penny poker in the Marines. He finally quit, decades later, when he met Jesus, coming off of a 3-day drunk having dropped $50,000 on the Super Bowl. “I never took another drink. I never laid down another bet.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the way, you know something is a trend when it hits the comics. Pearls Before Swine, April 18, 2024<\/a>, has this exchange:<\/p>\n\n\n\n