The problem with Massachusetts: Too much charity, too little gambling
The state lottery is an important source of revenue for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but it doesn’t bring enough money to cover spending. Part of the problem is that people in Massachusetts simply don’t spend enough on state-sanctioned gambling (lotteries, racing). In spite of their state being a world leader in lottery games Massachusettsians spend a mere 1.4% of the state GDP on regulated gambling. In Sweden, regulated-gambling rakes in money equal to 2.4% of the GDP. If people in Massachusetts plunked down that kind of dough regulated gambling would pull in about $7.7 billion, of which the government would capture more than $1.5 billion, rather than the measly $900 million it gets today (plus whatever the race tracks fork over, if anything).
But from where would all those extra billion dollars in gambling come, I hear you asking? What many people may not realize is that our state’s economy is struggling not only with a housing bubble, but also a charitable-giving bubble. In 2000, Massachusetts residents forked over $2 billion in charitable donations. 2006? $4.4 billion. That’s neither healthy nor sustainable. If people redirected 2/3 of their charitable giving, which is really just an obnoxious way of flaunting one’s good fortune in a socially acceptable way, to the state lottery, our children’s schools - our children’s lives, really - wouldn’t be jeopardized by unfunded public spending. So if you’re wealthy, instead of making out yet another five-figure check to your over-endowed alma mater, go down to your local convenience store and buy 20,000 Mega Million tickets. It’s for the best. It’s for the children.
Make this Christmas Merry for Massachusetts. Don’t give. Gamble!
[12/26 update: John Daley disagrees. He evidently hates children. And Massachusetts. And America, too, I bet.]
