Bookie State U

This posting by our friends at the Howard Center on state lottos is just another example of why I think democracy in this country is somewhat broke: if citizens were given full-disclosure about a deal to sell off the Illinois State Lottery for $10 billion up front to a "private investors" (who are these people?) who can run the Public Slot Machine for the next 75 years, what would they say?

I'm not so sure, but I smell rats anyway. I've seen enough of this food chain to make me suspicious: two crooked brothers running illegal gambling in my old precinct/ward so openly that patrons at the local barber shop would talk about the Leader Brother thugs and their cash stash in the Cayman Islands; the Leader Brothers slum-bar at the corner (I had to go in there once to make phone call my shoes kept sticking to floor as I walked in the black hole) and the junkies (needles in the parking lot, anyone?) somehow this bar just couldn't be closed down by the City for years and years and years despite occasional violations of code and citizen petition drives; trucks parked in the parking lot at night with "video games" shuffled around to various stores, sometimes in the middle of the night; finally, someone was shot dead in that parking lot and a little later it finally closed down--though by that time one Leader brother was dead and the other had been in prison for something else and pushing 80; within a few blocks of this (same ward, same political oversight) I suspect (but can't prove, mind you) plenty of under the table money from contractors who, oops, built 4- and 5-story condominiums before they realized that zoning allowed only 3-stories (and then built some more, though citizens were verbally reassured the City was "on it"--more likely "in on it"); the son-in-law of our city alderman who overlooked our ward lived just a few blocks away from all this neighborhood gentrification and is now the Governor of the State of Illinois. And just looking to get some cash from some "private investors" for sake of the citizens of Illinois. No thanks.

Finally, now that I've gotten that off my chest, the Howard Center posting notes that:

When initially adopted by various states, lotteries were sold as harmless mechanisms to increase state revenue without raising taxes. Why the public fell for the gamble remains a puzzle, but a study by two political scientists at the University of Maryland exposes the emptiness of that pitch by documenting how lotteries are major generators of income inequality.

The posting goes into more details about this. The lottos were also supposed to help education. I'm still waiting. We need some casino boats on Chicago's lakefront, too. Gambling is good for people. Good for little children. Good for poor people. Someone recently told me that you can now get a college degree in gaming. (True?) Next up? Master of Porn? Doctor of Prostitution?

Comments

[GL]

James,

What? You live in Chicago, don't you. Surely you don't think there might be something crooked going on here? ;-)

When I lived in Missouri and they were debating a lottery (it was enacted, of course), one of the arguments was that Missouri was losing revenue to Illinois. My response was would that be a valid argument for the state of Missouri to go into the drug dealing and prostitution business if the state of Illinois decided to sell cocaine or run brothels to raise revenue. You folks in Illinois are really a bad influence on the Show-Me state.

I am sure you can get degrees in gaming. Several law schools have courses in gaming law, including, at one time, the one at which I teach. (And no, I did not teach it, so no smart remarks. ;-)) UNLV Law School offers two courses in gaming law.

[Labrialumn]

Chicago is the city that stole the 1960 election for the Dems.

The home of "vote early, and vote often"

[JS Bangs]

Someone recently told me that you can now get a college degree in gaming.

They may have been referring to Game theory, which is a completely legitimate branch of mathematics. I would be surprised to hear that any university offered a degree in gambling per se, though a specialty in gaming law (as GL said) wouldn't surprise me.

[James A. Altena]

"Chicago ain't ready for reform." -- Chicago Alderman Paddy Bauler (who served time in the hoosegow to prove it.)

Here in Pennsylvania, we now can thank our governor, and former Philadelphia mayor, "Fast Eddie" Rendell for bringing riverboat gambling and casinos in. (A match for longtime Alderman "Fast Eddie" Vrdolyak in Chicago.)

Rendell is also pro-abortion. Has anyone ever tracked politicians to see if there is a general correlation between being pro-abortion and pro-gambling?

[Mike Melendez]

Degrees in Gaming are available, but those are for video gaming, e.g. Warcraft, as an artform. Half the staff on a typical video game are artists trained in the creation of CGI. So, not so much for gambling.

[Douglas]

The paradox is that when you legalize gambling, the businessmen drive the mobsters out.

>>>Why the public fell for the gamble remains a puzzle, but a study by two political scientists at the University of Maryland exposes the emptiness of that pitch by documenting how lotteries are major generators of income inequality.<<<

I need to get me one of them doctorate degrees in figgerin' out the obvious.

The middle class support the lottery because they know it's a transfer of wealth from the poor and ignorant to them, which is a welcome change from the usual course.

The poor and ignorant support the lottery because, well, they're poor and ignorant.

[GL]

Mike is correct that their are programs for students who want to design video games. There are also disciplines around studying the effect of video games and how video game technology may be used in a variety of pursuits, such as medicine and education.

When I said I was sure there were degrees in gaming, I meant business degrees with specialties preparing students for careers in the gaming "industry." (I always thought "industry" was about making things of value, but now we have the "gaming industry," the "'adult' entertainment industry," etc., which, as far as I can tell, produce nothing of value, unless one counts ruined lives as value.) I doubt there are degrees in playing Texas Hold'em, though I would be surprised if there are not colleges offering classes for credit in playing various games of skill.

[Jim Kushiner]

I did a quick Google for casino management degree and got one at Morrisville State College (NY).
http://www.morrisville.edu/academics/Business/Gaming_Casino/index.htm

[David Mills]

What the world, driven by advertising dollars offered by slimeballs who want to hide and prettify exactly what they are doing, now calls "gaming," we should always call "gambling."

[Jim Kushiner]

Yes, David. Always the editor (and a darn good one at that), you will see that I should have put quotes around the word "gaming" at the end of my original post! B.A. in Gambling: nice ring to it.

[Gina]

Then there are the Native American casinos. Reservations are in rural areas where there are few jobs and thus plenty of poor and bored people to line the gaming and buffet tables. Is this the Native Americans' final revenge?

[Bill R]

"B.A. in Gambling: nice ring to it.

But a B.S. in Gambling sounds much more accurate! ;-)

[Bobby Winters]

>>>Then there are the Native American casinos. Reservations are in rural areas where there are few jobs and thus plenty of poor and bored people to line the gaming and buffet tables. Is this the Native Americans' final revenge?<<<

They are making a killin' down in Oklahoma, too. The Tribes have been given a license to print money.

[Isamashii Yuubi]

Wow, I hear "gaming industry" and I wonder why people get so upset about video/computer/table-top games. Then I realize ya'll are talking about gambling. Silly me.

[Marc V]

I heard similar arguments to the ones GL heard in Missouri when I moved (back) to North Carolina at the turn of the century. Besides the "losing revenue to South Carolina" ploy, the local news broadcasts would regularly show North Carolinians crossing the borders with Virginia/SC and lining up for their chance at a big jackpot.

NC had been a lottery-free oasis on the east coast, but last year succumbed to the "education lottery" call. The vote in the state legislature involved some shady maneuvers as well. Once the Pandora's box is open, there does not seem to be any way to put the lottery demon back in. State legislators love the free money.

They're already talking about a "deficit in projected funds" from the lottery kitty, which would naturally lead to a tax hike proposal.

[GL]

What the world, driven by advertising dollars offered by slimeballs who want to hide and prettify exactly what they are doing, now calls "gaming," we should always call "gambling."

You are quite right. I remember when I first heard gambling called gaming, like Isamashii Yuubi, I was confused a little as well. As is demonstrated above, I have now been fully indoctrinated in the sanitized language used to describe fooling people to give disreputable "businessmen" money with a long-term chance of a positive return which is likely less than being struck by lightening three times on a cloudless day.

[GB]

Tulane U offers degrees in Casino Resort Studies
http://www.tulane.edu/~uc/degrees_programs/casino.htm

[luthien]

I'm now compiling a list of universties to boycott because they offer degrees in gambling. Unfortunately boycotting my home state (Pennsylvania) is probably not going to work so well; I second what Mr. Altena said about That Governor, and I'd like to add that a dead sea turtle would be a better governor. I'd even vote for one before I'd vote for Mr. Rendell. The gambling revenues won't even balance the budget; they're still hoping to raise the sales tax to 7%, and there is very little likelihood that other taxes will have one jot or tittle taken away from them. It's also likely to destroy many parts of rural western PA (especially the resort areas) and will only add another layer of crime, danger, and corruption to Chester and Philly.

[Stuart Koehl]

>>>I'm now compiling a list of universties to boycott because they offer degrees in gambling. <<<

Mainly it's just a way to attract students to games theory and probability classes, which otherwise would remain quite empty. As part of the commodification of higher education, schools now pander to the baser instincts of students in order to get them to take courses that they should take for the sake of being well-rounded, informed persons. At a more basic level, it shows that there are far too many people going to university, and far more professors than are needed.

[luthien]

Stuart, the pandering is all the more reason to boycott those schools; it ought not to be encouraged. Not that any of then are institutins which I was likely to attend anyway, but they're on my blacklist just in case. Now I'd best run off to get some coffee before my lovely back-to-back Latin seminars:)

[Robyn]

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