Such a shame.
Gambling simply extracts money from the lowest economic rungs of society. This ruling will only accelerate this phenomenon.
We Californians were duped into approving the lottery a few decades ago. We were told it would supplement public education. Nope. (Just like we were told Prop 13 wouldn't take from education.)
"Critics cite examples such as Florida. In 1988, the first year of the lottery in that state, Florida spent 60% of its budget on education. In 1993, with lottery revenues earmarked for education, education's share had declined to 51% despite the apparent windfall. Given variables such as inflation, the annual fluctuations in expenditures, etc., such figures in themselves are not conclusive, but neither do they support the contention that the lottery has improved funding for education.12 A recent study of the impact of lotteries on education funding concluded that "regardless of when or where the lottery operated, education spending declined once a state put a lottery into effect." 13 According to a study by
Money magazine, states without lotteries spend a greater portion of their total budget on education than do states with lotteries.14 Gary Landry, spokesman for the Florida Education Association, says "We've been hurt by our lottery...The state has simply replaced general revenues with lottery money - at a time when enrollments are increasing. It's a big shell game." 15"
(
https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/ngisc/research/lotteries.html)Sports gambling can now enter the mainstream in 50 states. Great.
Just another data point in the regressive trends pulling money out of the middle and lower class and pushing it upward.
