Once upon a time in America we thought that gambling was a vice. I certainly agree with Lysander Spooner that vice is not crime, so the ban on gambling was indefensible. Nonetheless, gambling was once thought a vice and with good reason. The enticement of quick riches corrupts sound minds; the rush of excitement, the intensity of anticipation, the crash of loss, the ecstasy of winning--all these states of mind essential to gambling conspire to corrupt good judgment, which is the very definition of "vice."
So now in modern America, state governments are trying to save themselves from financial ruin (caused by another vice, namely borrow-and-spend financing) by employing this vice for profit. In other words, the states hope to profit by corrupting the good judgment and morals of their citizens. What other evidence does a candid world need to establish the case that America is broken beyond repair? O tempora! O mores!
And what will the states try next to balance busted budgets, pimping and prostitution? How about drug pushing? The evil anti-drug laws could be junked--not because they are brutal, unprincipled, and ineffective--but because the state could profit by a monopoly on recreational drug peddling. Sound ridiculous? So did state-sponsored gambling for profit when I was young (not so very long ago). America is in free fall now, so be prepared for anything.
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