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Just seven years ago on Christmas Eve, Jack Whittaker was driving on a business trip when he stopped at a convenience store in Hurricane, West Virginia. He filled up his gas tank, bought a sandwich for the road, and purchased a lottery ticket. The next morning, Whittaker received his own Christmas miracle as he found that he had won the largest Power Ball Jackpot to date, which equaled three hundred fifteen million dollars. Overnight, he was instantly catapulted into a life of fame and riches.

Supporters believe that this age old practice must become legalized to reduce the power of criminals and loan sharks by regulating it more closely. Supporters also believe that in addition to positively changing many lives, gambling also helps the individuals and the community by providing revenue for education. If the government was to authorize the harmless practice of gambling, it could profit from the inevitability of these games.

This is exactly what the government and lobbyists of gambling organizations want you to believe.

All of these flawed and fallacy driven arguments I have just presented fail to consider the big picture and rely on manipulated common sense for their credibility. Take for example the idea that legalizing gambling will decrease the amount of crime. This theory depends on the idea that if there are casinos, they will become the preferred method of gambling, and thus drive the illegally run operations out of business. This idea leaves out the various economic incentives that drive these criminals. Since money in an underground poker ring is unregulated and untaxed, a greater percentage of the winnings are available for prizes, thereby creating better odds due to the lack of legislation that often limits the player. For example in Iowa, the players on a riverboat gambling cruise are restricted to two hundred dollars per night, a limit that is never exercised in illegal operations. Studies have even shown that by legalizing gambling, it both offers another pathway for criminals to manipulate the system, and increases the number of people that gamble.

Another area where crime becomes increased due to gambling is surprisingly through the government’s corruption. With an activity that has such high cash flow, it can become very tempting for people in high political positions to steal or divert this money. Mayors have been convicted for extortion, State run lottery operators have been accused of fixing the results, and police officers have been arrested for bribery.

A second misconception that many people share is that certain forms of gambling are acceptable because they raise money for worthwhile causes. In the late 1980’s, legislation for the Kentucky Lottery was proposed and eventually passed largely based on the idea that the revenue created would go toward education funds in the state. Twenty years later, Kentucky, along with the rest of the forty three states that currently allow lotteries contribute an average of only 2.8 percent of their gross income to education funds. Compare this 2.8 percent to the government’s various taxes, where the profit margin never falls below ninety percent. If the government really wants more money, there are far more effective methods than legalizing gambling.

The economic benefits of gambling have never proved to outweigh the costs. Compulsive gambling costs the government around fifty billion dollars per year in legal fees, Medicare, welfare, hospitalizations, productivity losses, creditor losses and social services.

Other gaming supporters propose that gambling is harmless and that it will happen no matter what, so it should be legalized so that it can be regulated. Following this logic, we should allow everything from illicit drugs to prostitution. The public will view this new legalization as a way of saying “it’s okay to gamble” when really that is not the message they are trying to convey.

Surveys estimate that around three percent of American adults currently have a gambling addiction, with another five percent who are susceptible due to their addictive behaviors. The American Journal of Psychology has classified a gambling addiction as a neurological disorder because of how it can change a person’s brain chemistry. They bet, then loose, then bet again, and they loose again. Occasionally they win, but this is usually followed by another loss of the money they just won. This pattern of “chasing” is the major reason why this couple percent of gamblers contribute to over fifty percent of all gambling revenue. An addict can sometimes gamble away large amounts of their personal finances, tend to be depressed, yet have an urge to continue gambling in order to gain back what they have lost. Studies conducted by Gamblers Anonymous have found that fifteen to twenty four percent of all compulsive gamblers have attempted suicide, which is a rate ten times higher than the national average. By making all forms of gambling illegal, this will make it so that the gambler does not have an environment in which their disease can thrive.

Throughout the history of the United States, there have been fluctuations of the legality of gambling. Currently, more gambling activities are being legalized by government officials. This growth does not appear to be changing. In addition, many local governments are becoming addicted to their own system of relying on gambling. Unfortunately the introduction of one game into a population spikes a growth of the government’s revenue, followed by a systematic decline, the executives are always trying to achieve a new high.

Gambling isn’t natural to the flow of goods and services from one party to another. Only here could a man finish something with several hundred dollars less and nothing in return. His stomach isn’t any fuller, he hasn’t seen any magnificent performance, and he probably didn’t learn anything. This creates a dream that taunts the impoverished by making them believe that they could be the lucky one who wins big.

Even though we are not old enough to vote, we can all speak out against gambling by contacting our representatives. We all need to convince and persuade that legalizing gambling has the potential to ruin the lives of those are engaged in it.

Don’t forget about Jack. Jackson Whittaker won big. He went from living a modest lifestyle to having hundreds of millions of dollars. In the newspapers, people saw a middle-aged man ecstatically accepting an oversized check, while surrounded by flashing lights and a film crew. Many people thought “if only I could win the lottery, I could be as happy as that man.” But they only heard half of the story. Even before Jack had come to the realization that he was a multimillionaire, his family, and friends all cupped their hands together expecting a sum of his winnings. Following this “blessing”, Whittaker had been sued over 400 times, became a friendless, and lonely alcoholic, faced numerous drunk driving charges, his wife had left him, he was drugged and robbed several times, his seventeen year old granddaughter who he was very close to was found dead, and his daughter, who had plunged into depression due to her showering of endless gifts died due to a drug overdose. Whittaker was quoted as saying, “If I could have done it over, I wouldn’t have played the lottery.”