Gambling? Lingle Opens to the Possibility

[james weatherford]

In fact, in the case at hand, the issue is not about being "able to protect people from themselves."
The perps in the Pokies matter are the people who promote them.


James Weatherford, Ph.D.
15-1888 Hialoa
Hawaiian Paradise Park

[David M]

IMHO, a lottery would not have the same level perils of the pokies or similar operator-for-profit systems. That said, I'd probably spring for $5 of tickets for a big multi million pot.

I might even see a well managed, off shore cruise ship casino venture where cruise ticket purchase was the mandatory price of entry and limited to island to island cruises, no just off shore and return, quickie junkets.

I'd also suggest cannabis legalization would come about ONLY for explicit purpose of taking money from players users and transferring that money to the operator(s) growers/dealers of the game cannabis plant and to the state.

David

Ninole Resident

[Greg]

Please don't use the arguement that all the other states do it. We don't need another layer of our uniqueness peeled away.

[PaulW]

Gambling is voluntary taxation.

Some people can't handle alcohol, but that's no reason to ban it for everyone.

[Guest]

Former Starbulletin Investigative Journalist Ian Lind writes a pretty good column today that I think is worth checking out.

...The reality, from all available data, is that gambling is deeply entrenched in Hawaii...

[macuu222]

If it comes down to people losing their jobs...with no other sources of viable income...some form of gambling will be added...be it casino or lottery style. When it comes down right to it...we are no different than the rest of the US.

[Greg]

It's a misperception that gambling is illegal here. We're all totally free to get together and play poker or holdem anytime we want 24/7. What's illegal here is a "house" that takes a percentage of all wagers.

Promoters of a state lottery contend that the municipality is the "house" and benefits from the procedings. It's been my understanding, however, that the states usually farm out the administration of the lottery to private corperations.

So who profits? I'm sure the states get some money thrown their way, but WHO profits?

[macuu222]

Legalized human vices (whether it be alchohol, cigerettes, gambling or prostitution) have been helping pay for state and local servies in the US for quite a long time.

The state of hawaii is benefiting right now with both an alchohol and cigerette tax. They are both bad for us...(they can be addictive)..but we allow them because they bring in needed revenue. Why must we make a stand against gambling?

[Kelena]

Gambling is so antithetical to Hawaiian values I don't even know where to begin. Come to the Hawaiian Islands and disappear into an air conditioned, smokey, pukey place where bells are going off while people walk around in a daze, obsessed? What works on the mainland and is well-absorbed there does not necessarily work on an island, where the effects of a vice are more widely and immediately felt. Gambling is one of the worst methods of raising revenue possible. First, the state doesn't get all the revenue. And where gambling goes, crime follows. Do we need more of that?

Gambling will bring in tourists? No, natural beauty will bring in tourists, and when you blight that natural beauty with Casinos, Walmarts, Targets and the like, you ultimately remove the reason that people come in the first place: to be someplace different and beautiful.

[Jon]

I think the idea is keep some of the money here, I have heard that Las Vegas is the #1 destination for Hawaiians.


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I do not believe that America is better than everybody else...
America "IS" everybody else.