Washington State - Agent of the Devil
I am quite irritated by the Washington state lottery these days. They have put big yellow vending machines with the lie "It's good to play" in nearly every store that I visit.
Today, I heard a radio ad where they where telling stories of thier winner's generosity to others.
The kicker was the story of a lady who shared her 50k winnings with her family. It mentions that she borrowed the money to buy the lottery ticket from her Brother.
So the message from Washington State: "If you want to be good, borrow money from your relatives so that you can buy lottery tickets, get rich, and pay them back"
I agree . . . It's not good to play!. In fact the extent to which gambling has permeated our lives and our churches is alarming. The lottery is a tax for those who are bad at math and a destructive one at that. Like all gambling, it feeds on peoples greed and promotes a win-loose work ethic.
I used to work at a 7-11 (Graveyard) as a third or forth job a number of years ago. I learned a lot by how people played the lottery, This was in a fairly poor neighborhood so most of the 'players' could not afford it. They'd buy milk & Slurpees with their food stamps (yes that's allowed) and then spend their cash on lottery tickets (and cigarettes & alcohol). The funny thing was that they NEVER kept their winnings- they would ALWAYS 'reinvest' them in more tickets. No matter how much they won (I remeber one man blowing $100), they would continue doing this until all their money/winnings were gone.
Any tax that takes advantage of peoples weaknesses should be discontinued. When someone wins, thousands of people have lost. (Like my middle class friend who almost lost it all gambling)
That's where the money comes to provide the pot they are all vying to win, from the losses and weakness of others. Great thing for us as a society to promote huh?
It's NOT good to play!