ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, June 15, 1996 TAG: 9606170056
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
IT'S A sadly familiar scenario:
What initially may seem sinfully exciting becomes, with prolonged exposure, less pleasurable, increasingly a source of ennui and regret.
Contrived excitements must be made ever more extreme to elicit a response. Savings are spent. Self-respect withers. The thrill of experimentation is replaced by joyless addiction.
Lotteries, though one of the less odious forms of gambling, are not immune to this sort of scenario common to compulsive behaviors.
State lotteries give official sanction to the concept that gambling is not only lawful, but right. Since their spread, more than 80 percent of Americans now see gambling as acceptable entertainment, and more than 60 percent participate. Surveys show that Americans spend - or, rather, lose - more than $480 billion a year gambling, compared to $22 billion 20 years ago.
But lotteries and their hyping must be constantly expanded to draw revenues to addicted state governments. Even as Virginia is joining The Big Game, a multi-state lottery, the commonwealth seems to have cooled its warm embrace of gambling, following a nationwide trend.
Not only have some cities such as New Orleans seen big-stakes ventures fail. Many localities and states are looking harder at industry assurances that, with legalized gambling, everybody wins.
LENGTH: Short : 35 linesby CNB