| | '''''Gambling is a way that government and businesses take money from the poor'''''. Twice in our nation's history gambling was legalized in a widespread manner, and then prohibited. We are currently in a third phase of the legalization of gambling, first in Reno, then Las Vegas and Atlantic City (Reno and Atlantic City have both declined economically in recent decades, while sunnier Las Vegas still attracts many more), and then on riverboats and Indian reservations, and now in multiple locations in some states. Gambling is still mostly prohibited in many [[conservative]] states, such as Texas, except for government-sponsored gambling in the form of a state lottery, and allowances for charitable-sponsored events such as bingo halls, raffle tickets, etc. The [[U.S. Supreme Court]] in its 6-3 decision in ''Murphy v. NCAA'' (May 14, 2018) struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act despite how that law had worked well for 26 years in mostly prohibiting wagering on sports. | | '''''Gambling is a way that government and businesses take money from the poor'''''. Twice in our nation's history gambling was legalized in a widespread manner, and then prohibited. We are currently in a third phase of the legalization of gambling, first in Reno, then Las Vegas and Atlantic City (Reno and Atlantic City have both declined economically in recent decades, while sunnier Las Vegas still attracts many more), and then on riverboats and Indian reservations, and now in multiple locations in some states. Gambling is still mostly prohibited in many [[conservative]] states, such as Texas, except for government-sponsored gambling in the form of a state lottery, and allowances for charitable-sponsored events such as bingo halls, raffle tickets, etc. The [[U.S. Supreme Court]] in its 6-3 decision in ''Murphy v. NCAA'' (May 14, 2018) struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act despite how that law had worked well for 26 years in mostly prohibiting wagering on sports. |
| − | {{cquote|[Pathological gambling] is associated with obesity, chronic medical conditions, poor lifestyle choices, worse quality of life, and the use of costly forms of medical care.<ref>https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22938650/</ref>}} | + | {{cquote|[Pathological gambling] is associated with [[obesity]], chronic medical conditions, poor lifestyle choices, worse quality of life, and the use of costly forms of medical care.<ref>https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22938650/</ref>}} |
| | Lotteries are a common form of gambling, with a small stake being bet for the very low probability of winning a very large amount of money, if the numbers a player chooses are selected by a random number picking device. Lotteries are a major revenue source for governments. In just one multi-state lottery in early 2012, there was about $1.5 billion spent on the "Mega Millions" lottery – money that was in part distributed to other players as prizes and in part supplied to fund education and senior citizens.<ref>http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/20120331/NEWS/303310014/Americans-spend-1-5B-Mega-Millions-tickets?odyssey=mod|mostview</ref> | | Lotteries are a common form of gambling, with a small stake being bet for the very low probability of winning a very large amount of money, if the numbers a player chooses are selected by a random number picking device. Lotteries are a major revenue source for governments. In just one multi-state lottery in early 2012, there was about $1.5 billion spent on the "Mega Millions" lottery – money that was in part distributed to other players as prizes and in part supplied to fund education and senior citizens.<ref>http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/20120331/NEWS/303310014/Americans-spend-1-5B-Mega-Millions-tickets?odyssey=mod|mostview</ref> |