Attempting to Get Poker

February 8, 2009

As more and more states turn to slot machines or video poker games to try and fix the holes that have appeared in their state budgets, it would seem that the opposition to the gambling issues that had been there before have drastically reduced. However, this would not necessarily be the case. As each state turns to poker and whatnot to fix their problems, those that are against introducing or expanding gambling have been working hard behind the scenes to keep it from happening.

According to a recent report by the Associated Press, there are a least fourteen current proposals to expand or bring in slot machines or poker, etc. This leaves government officials wondering if they should be considering it or if they should cut state funded programs instead.

The problem is that in a time when every industry seems to have a problem with getting people to buy their product, gambling has felt the pinch as well but not nearly as bad as the other industries. Income and sales taxes are not going up as the various states had hoped, leaving them to turn to gambling instead.

However, even in a flush economy that money has to come from somewhere. Lawmakers want to say that video poker machines will bring in tons of money for their states, but they don’t really like to talk about where it will come from. Most poker and gambling revenues come from the poor and uneducated for they don’t understand that they cannot win. They turn to gambling as a way to deepen their own pockets as well, not realizing that they are helping everyone but themselves.