“Give the gift of Maryland Scratchers from the Maryland Lottery”. That’s usually how the radio spot ad goes. It sounds pretty innocent and “fun” — who doesn’t like giving a small gift to co-workers or friends and family – especially when that $2 scratcher gift could yield the recipient $5,000 or more?
For the average person, even those without a degree in mathematics, finance, or basic probability theory, or even those without a clear understanding of investments and compounding interest, the purchase of a lotto ticket or instant Maryland Lotto “scratcher” is probably confined to the holidays or when a mega jackpot is at stake.
But there is a specific subset of the population who play Maryland or multi-state lotteries every single day, and often play it to the tune of $10 or $20 per day, equating to $100 or more per week and $400 per month spent on lottery “games”. A full 99% of these “players” will lose their money into the black hole that is the state-run lotto. And it is this population of people, nearly all of whom are poor or of limited economic means, plus woefully under-educated or exposed to the math that governs such “games”, that the Maryland-run Lottery targets every single day via targeted ads both physical and digital. This is to say nothing of the predatory gambling interests the state of Maryland has propped up and encouraged now for a decade-plus (see: casinos, sports gambling, etc).
The result is an underclass of gambling-addicted Marylanders who are still desperate, still poor, and ever focused on short-term “get rich quick” lotto games and other schemes. Such people are very unlikely to have much saved for retirement or a rainy day emergency — and are very likely to seek “government assistance” in many forms, from subsidized food and water bills to taxpayer-provided housing, healthcare or retirement. If even 10% of the money they spent on state-run lotto was set aside as actual savings, such people would likely have the money they need for true emergencies, or maybe even some real wealth creation.
It has been proven time and time again that the state-run lotteries are basically massive regressive tax / “revenue” raising machines. This isn’t hard stuff to decipher – public policy “wonks” like the “data driven” bureaucrats in MoCo government have known it for decades. And now in Maryland at least, some of the lotto money raised on the backs of such desperate, poor people will be diverted to pay off the wealthy holders of state-issued bonds (debt), which was raised to pay for the “stadium upgrades” of the Baltimore Ravens football franchise and (maybe) the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles franchise continues to try and squeeze Maryland taxpayers for still more money and valuable land around Camden Yards.
Montgomery County statehouse legislators (all local Democrats) seem to go along with this scheme in Annapolis. Statehouse politicians in Annapolis are gullible, easily attracted to new stadiums and shiny objects, but they are very much addicted to extracting money from Marylanders in every way possible.
But the most inauthentic, fake Robin Hood politicians by far can be found on the Montgomery County, Maryland Council. It is here outspoken, ambitious politicians like Evan Glass and Will Jawando purport to champion “the poor” or those “left behind” in all their feel-good nanny-state legislation, yet are dead silent, year after year, on the issue of the state-run lottery and how it advertises to various groups of people. Any other “issue” under the sun gets a bill or a hearing or a proclamation, but radio silence on the state run lottery.
Councilmember Evan Glass was obsessed with “banning” gas powered leaf blowers… because of “noise pollution” and “carbon”. He finally got a phase out bill this year. Councilmember Glass also once voted to make intentionally releasing balloons a “Class A Civil Violation” in Montgomery County. This is the same Councilmember who wants to ban right turns on red lights in most parts of the County — because he doesn’t trust drivers to follow basic etiquette and because he basically thinks pedestrians are too stupid or illiterate to follow traffic signals. Think about it for a second… the Councilmember believes people are too dumb to cross streets without massive government regulation… yet won’t say anything as the state government cleverly targets populations for economic extraction.
Councilmember Jawando has filed a recent bill to require businesses of pretty much all sizes to put “free” menstrual products in their “public facing” restrooms. Jawando championed a “Universal Basic Income” pilot program last year too — “free” money (taxpayer money of course, matched with some private charity) with no strings attached to a few lucky program participants. It is clear Councilmember Jawando believes he’s giving a “hand up” to the poorest in MoCo… but why then doesn’t he chastise or seek to regulate the very state-run program that is slapping down that hand of the poor and desperate? How is giving someone “free” money that they turn around and spend on lotto, liquor and pot a real solution to help someone climb the economic ladder in Maryland?
These nanny-state politicians aren’t sincere in their beliefs. If they were, they’d turn their sites on the root cause of much misery and poverty in MoCo — the state-run lottery. They’d seek real changes to the program and try and de-centralize it as much as possible or even privatize it (with smart regulations). They’d work to make the lotto ads and the sophisticated lottery ad targeting program transparent and highly regulated — just as they did cigarettes and “flavored nicotine” in MoCo, MD. But we know why they don’t or won’t… they want dependency, not prosperity in MoCo and beyond. Also, they don’t want to call out their own political party in MD for pushing this stuff.
Bonus: check out the latest short video by the excellent org “Stop Predatory Gambling” called Payday for Monsters. It encapsulates the ongoing predation of American consumers by state governments (and state created monopoly casinos).
