Legalize or Unlegalize Gambling essays

Legalize or Unlegalize Gambling essays What role does the government have in legalizing or not legalizing gambling? State lotteries date back to Colonial America. In that time lotteries were used to pave streets and to fund other public work. However, in the 1870s, gambling scandals involving bribery of state and federal officials led to lotteries being outlawed altogether. Most other forms of gambling were outlawed as well. In 1960, New Hampshire paved the way with the first legalized state lottery. Of the fifty states 47 states and The District of Columbia followed shortly after in a lottery. When voters in New Jersey authorized casinos for Atlantic City in 1976, many felt that the lid of restriction of gambling had blown off. Some form of gambling is legal in 48 states. Forty-seven state governments now conduct lotteries (Thompson). Unless these states are willing to give up all the money they get from these lotteries they will still be legal. Yet, has the state government really looked at the benefits and liabilities of legalized gambling? Legalized gambling is a liability to states and local communities. Many reasons support this threat of moral downfall in America. There are benefits and liabilities of legalized gambling. Some benefits include state tax revenues and jobs among others. However, the liabilities are much greater. A few of the liabilities include moral decay of the family, increased crime, and severe addiction. Casinos offer quality jobs, economic development and capital investment in their communities. Some jobs a casino creates are dealers, servers, parking, maintenance, and security. This in turn drops the communities unemployment rate. According to the National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC), in Mississippi, the casino industry pays about 3% of the states entire work force. The commission found that "destination type resorts" such as casinos, offer major economic advantages over what they called "convince type gambling." Co...