Yes To Casino Gambling, No To the Lottery

As many others have already reported, Senator Shea Flinn has proposed a bill that will bring casino gambling to Tennessee. I have always been a major opponent of the Tennessee lottery, but my opposition doesn't have anything to do with whether I think people should be allowed to gamble. In fact, I am all for the old "numbers game". I oppose the lottery because it is a government enterprise, and not only that, it is a government enterprise that benefits from the bad choices of people from the lowest income levels.

On the other hand, casinos are owned privately and are marketed more toward those with middle class to higher incomes. I am not saying that I would oppose casinos if they preyed on the poor. Lots of privately owned business, like title pawns, and rent to own stores, prey on the poor, and while I am disgusted by what they do, I wouldn't support taking away their right to do it. I don't believe government should be in the business of protecting anybody from themselves, regardless of income level. Still though, while I may not support laws that protect people from themselves, I certainly can not support a government enterprise that actually seeks to harm people for it's own benefit, and that is what the lottery does.

I think bringing casino gambling to Tennessee is an excellent idea and I hope it will pass. Do I think it will? No I don't. But before you start ass-u-me-ing that social conservatives will be the cause of casinos never coming to this state, stop and think for a second. The social conservatives proved that they didn't have enough clout to stop gambling with the lottery fight. Who won that fight though? Well obviously the pro-lottery lobby won.

Politics often times makes strange bedfellows. Expect the social conservatives to have a new and powerful ally in state legislators that support the lottery. You might even get some socially conservative commercials paid for by some people who supported the lottery. The only way that the true government lovers would ever allow casinos in this state is if they could be convinced that they would actually get more money to redistribute. They would, by the way.

Let's see what happens. I wouldn't hold my breath though.