RE: RE: RE: House Passes State Lottery Bill

Steve Brenneis responds to Behethland B. Clark:

Ah, so yours is the "everyone else is doing it so why shouldn't we?" argument. I am always amazed at how widely varied are the justifications used by pro-lottery folks.

Here's just one of many reasons why a government lottery is an unsound economic idea:

Every dollar spent on lottery tickets is a dollar not spent on clothing, durable goods, real estate, cars, groceries, and other amusements. In other words, every dollar spent on a government lottery is another dollar removed from the private sector economy. Government lotteries are no different than taxes except that they represent a more invisible leakage of money from the private economy into the public economy.