Gambling has a zero-sum economic effect in its market and, like legalizing cocaine, the socio-economic costs of legalizing gambling overwhelm the benefits

It becomes a cannibalization of your pre-existing economy

Besides creating more compulsive gamblers, money spent on lotteries isn't spent on other goods such as clothing or computers, which would trickle through to retailers, manufacturers and other parts of the economy

Gambling addicts usually lose their focus at work and problem military gambling poses a national security threat

Gambling interests hire lots of economists to do impact studies, but what you need is cost-benefit analysis, and you'll never see the industry finance those

In convenience gambling scenarios, discretionary spending and nondiscretionary addicted gambling dollars were transferred from other forms of consumer expenditures

If you want your 401k to come back, recriminalize gambling