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OPINION: Hard to stomach state’s hypocrisy on gambling

Posted by

Frank Gillispie

in Opinions

Wednesday, July 30. 2008

Comments (5)

Four small business operators in Madison County were arrested and charged with operating a commercial gambling establishment. In one case it was his second arrest on the same charge. These four small businesses had poker machines in their stores, and they were giving players cash prizes when they won. That is a clear violation of Georgia law.

Now I never approve of violators of the law. Once a law is on the books, it must be obeyed. If it is a bad law, then the people need to organize political opposition to the law and demand that it be changed. The one thing they must never do is ignore it.

I personally abhor gambling. I cannot see why anyone would want to bet money on a system in which they are guaranteed to lose more than they win, and that is the way commercial gambling systems work. If you are playing a slot machine, it is programmed to give back only a fraction of the money put in it. The owner of the machine keeps the difference for his profit. Therefore, in my opinion, anyone who engages in gambling of any kind is very foolish.

But as much as I despise all forms of gambling, I have an even greater dislike for the hypocrisy in Georgia’s gambling laws. You see, in Georgia it is a case of “Do as I say, not as I do.” While Georgia forbids small businesses from operating a couple of gambling machines to make a few extra dollars, it is the owner and operator of a massive commercial gambling business.

How many of you regularly buy lottery tickets with the hope that you might hit the jackpot? The vast majority of you will never come close to recovering the amount of money you spend on lottery tickets. That is the nature of a commercial gambling business. The state of Georgia skims off a sizable chunk of the cash before paying out any winnings. Therefore there will always be more losers than winners.

Every time I see the TV promotion that says so many hundreds of lottery players won so many thousands of dollars, I immediately wonder how many hundreds of thousands of dollars were lost by how many losers. I believe that every lottery commercial should have a disclaimer reporting how many people lost money playing the games.

Let me repeat, I have no love for gambling. I think every person who plays a poker machine in the back of a convenience store, and every person who buys a state sponsored lottery ticket is being very foolish. But if the state of Georgia is going to conduct a massive commercial gambling operation in the form of the lottery, it makes no sense to slap handcuffs onto a small business owner for having a couple of slot machines in his store. It is hypocrisy at its worst.

Frank Gillispie is founder of The Madison County Journal. His e-mail address is frankgillispie671@msn.com. His website can be accessed at http://frankgillispie.tripod.com/

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#1 maxsportz on 07/31/08 at 08:38 PM [Reply]

Good post Frank. However you miss the point about the children. The State Lottery promotes the fact that some lottery money goes to schools. Politicians & bureaucrats always promote their agendas by using childrens' well being & safety. Perhaps the small stores who got busted should have had signs made up promoting 20% of proceeds would go to help needy children. Maybe that would have saved them from the violence enacted upon them.
Government people are more moral so they can handle the dangerous business of gambling. Us common peons cannot handle the responsibility apparently.

#2 Wonder Why? on 07/31/08 at 09:45 PM [Reply]

Wonder why the same stores get hit over and over. I wonder if it has anything to do with the owners not being from the US, not being from Madison County, not being a local good ole boy. Wonder why a couple of stores in Madison County never get popped. The same stores with multiple machines in the back room. The same stores that are owned and operated by whites, good ole boys from Madison County. Makes me wonder, how bout you?

#2.1 Wondering why is wondering why? on 08/07/08 at 10:51 PM [Reply]

Did it ever occur to you that the police may not have the information you have?? Someone can always find something negative to say when someone gets repeatedly busted. Try being pro-active and do something about it if you have information regarding something going on that you think is not on the up-and-up. How many times have you picked up the telephone and reported the "good ol' boys" to the local authorities, state authorities or to anyone else besides a blog? I think that our local authorities or whomever in charge of busting these stores did an excellent job and who knows... Maybe the good ol' boys were obeying the law. After all, its not illegal to have or even play these machines. Stores can legally pay out in merchandise. It's illegal to pay out in cash. btw, I too hope that the feds get involved. Don't hold back Uncle Sam.

#2.2 Anonymous on 08/12/08 at 07:31 AM [Reply]

Where are the stores in Madison County operated by native, "good ole boys"? I haven't found any.

#3 Anonymous on 08/02/08 at 07:26 AM [Reply]

These stores were openly violating the law soley for their own financial gain. They were receiving thousands of dollars in income which was untaxed and unreported. I hope the IRS steps in and seizes what is left so i don't have to pay their tax burden. Anyone who knows where more of these places are located should report them and quit griping about the ones who got caught.

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