- Crime (apprehension, adjudication, incarceration and police costs),
- Business and employment costs (lost productivity on the job, lost employment time, other costs to firms),
- Bankruptcy (lawsuits and legal costs, bill collection costs),
- Suicide,
- Illness (costs associated with depression, stress-related illness, anxiety, cognitive distortions, cardio-vascular disorders, chronic or severe headaches among others),
- Social service costs (treatment/therapy costs, welfare, food stamps, costs associated with unemployment),
- Government direct regulatory costs,
- Family costs (costs associated with divorce, separation, spousal abuse, child neglect),
- Abused dollars (resources acquired from family, friends, employers under false pretenses).
Mr. Patrick, crowing about the fact your plan gives x-million dollars for treatment, mitigation, or prevention means nothing without an honest estimate of the costs. Failure to inform the public about the potential costs means either that you haven’t done your homework, or that you are intentionally misleading us.
And let’s be honest about the fact that no matther how much money goes toward treatment, and revenue we gain, there will be a cost in human misery for a good number of our fellow citizens.
If we’re going to make a deal with the devil, let’s make sure we’ve all read the contract.
1CUTTING THE CARDS AND CRAPS: Right Thinking About Gambling Economics
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frederick-clarkson says
The governor’s proposal to expand gambling addiction in the state is about as ill-considered a public policy as it gets.
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I look forward to seeing the governor’s plan B, because this proposal is just not going to fly.
lasthorseman says
lies not in monetary gain, the value here is moral decay.
If you can divert a larger percentage of the population away from concerns about politics then mafia type government will thrive.