A Substack post on state-run lotteries.
Good Societies and Good Lives
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2 responses to “Good Societies and Good Lives”
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Hi Bill
In many countries the lotteries are government run monopolies, sometimes at state/province level, sometimes at federal level. Governments will never surrender this enormously efficient, and certain for them, money making machine that is easy to operate. It is a bit different with other forms of gambling such as casino games, poker and sports betting because it is much more difficult and expensive to run these gambling verticals. Whether online or in land based casinos the operators always have to provide new content as otherwise people get bored quickly. This is why governments only regulate and tax non-lottery forms of gambling as opposed to operating it.
I understand you were making a different and more principled point, but, pragmatically speaking, the governments will never allow private competition in lotteries. So it is not just tax and death, lotteries ownership by the government is a certainty too. -
Dmitri,
You are right about what is, and what will likely remain. But you got my point.
So I ask myself: why bother writing such things? Well, there is the sheer pleasure in thinking things through, which is intense and satisfying for us intellectual types. And there is also the pleasure of writing something which, in this case is nearly perfect, not to mention the consequent pleasure of reading it again, and again.
The thinker thinks, and the scribbler scribbles. We like what we’re good at. It’s an end in itself.
In the end there is only one thing we have any real control over, and that is oneself. Putting my thoughts in order is part of putting my life in order.
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