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Why doesn't Utah have a Lottery?

franklin said:
:lol

I kid you not, the first time I read this I saw it as a TroutButt post. It wasn't until you quoted yourself and I went back that you became the poster. Did Jazzfanz just invent truly artificial intelligence? Is this Frankenstein?
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You both get +19 for this. I'm touched on so many levels right now.

Bronco70 said:
Class B Misdemeanor. Typical criminal ute fan.
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I bet he smokes pot as well.
 
SaltyDawg said:
Your post from earlier in the thread just basically said it's a stupid way to raise money.
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I went into a lot more detail than that. Perhaps you didn't go back far enough in the thread. I'm frankly tired of this conversation.

I'm saying screw the raising money. A lottery should be legal because people enjoy playing it.
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Some people do. But a lot of people don't. And a lot of people feel like it shouldn't be a function of their government to run such a thing. Here in Utah the latter outweigh the former. But just because SOME people enjoy doing a certain thing is not a justification for making that thing legal, in my opinion. Granted, your mileage may (and almost certainly does) vary.
 
colton said:
As long as we have the current level of social programs (welfare, medicaid, food stamps, bankruptcy laws, etc), it certainly the business of any taxpayer if people get addicted and unable to function as productive members of society.
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The new rep system sucks. After six tries you'll have to settle for a sig. Pretty fair I think since you'll just adjust yourself up and discourage your own rep by doing so.

Anyway, this is eloquent enough to be used as standard response to at least 2 dozen posts in this thread.



**Edit** Have you considered the biblical foundation of US bankruptcy law? IMO, bankruptcy isn't the moral hazard typical bible thumping conservatives make it out to be (and I'm in no way implying you in any of this).
 
Interesting story in the Trib regarding Utahans buying lottery tickets in Idaho.

https://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/53862915-78/lottery-idaho-utah-sales.html.csp

About $1 of every $5 spent on traditional Idaho Lottery games — such as the Mega Millions drawing that offered a record $656 million jackpot last week — comes from neighboring Utah, which outlaws all forms of gambling.

That’s according to a Salt Lake Tribune analysis of Idaho Lottery Commission sales data for 2011, obtained through an open-records request.

It shows that 19.4 percent of Idaho’s revenue from traditional lottery drawings comes from sales sites on the Utah border. And owners of such stores credit the Beehive State for the overwhelming majority of those sales — "99 percent" of them, said Alexis Daniels, manager of the Top Stop Chevron in the border city of Malad.

That appropriately named Top Stop is Idaho’s No. 1 lottery outlet. By itself, that gasoline station and convenience store sells 3 percent of all the Gem State’s tickets for traditional lotteries.​
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colton said:
I went into a lot more detail than that. Perhaps you didn't go back far enough in the thread. I'm frankly tired of this conversation.
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The only detail I can find is you saying you think it's a stupid way to raise money, and you basically saying you want to protect people from themselves (basically calling it a tax). Is there more to this? If not, then again I ask, what business is it of yours what I do with my time and money?

colton said:
Some people do. But a lot of people don't. And a lot of people feel like it shouldn't be a function of their government to run such a thing. Here in Utah the latter outweigh the former. But just because SOME people enjoy doing a certain thing is not a justification for making that thing legal, in my opinion. Granted, your mileage may (and almost certainly does) vary.
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If someone was against the lottery, nobody would be forcing them to play. And if a lot of people are against the government running it, it could be a private entity (such as the powerball and mega millions).

I would honestly like to know, why isn't it grounds to make something legal just because SOME people enjoy doing it? Shouldn't those people be granted the basic freedom to do what they want? Why should anyone else tell them they aren't allowed to do it with no better reason than "I don't like it"?

I thought you of all people would have some sound reasoning for your position. But the more we discuss it, the more it seems like you just want everyone else to live by your own religious beliefs.

Again, nobody would be forced to play the lottery. If you don't believe in it, fine, don't play. But don't turn this into the Taliban or Iran where everyone is forced to follow the beliefs of a certain religion. This is still supposed to be America.
 
Another snippet from the article I linked above.

In its 22-year history, the Idaho Lottery Commission has given $540.6 million in profits to the state for schools and buildings. If Utahns provided 10.5 percent of that total as they did for all lottery products in 2011, that would be $54.1 million that Utah ended up giving in profit to its neighbors to the north.
Of note, $50 million is about what Utah estimates it will spend this year on the 12,500 additional students entering its public schools.​
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SaltyDawg said:
What about TVs? Lots of people sit at home and watch TV instead of going to work. And what about guns? Plenty of people use them to steal instead of going to work.

Seriously, there are countless things that can be used to blow off work. Where do we draw the line and just let people live the life they choose for themselves?
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I can't believe that I'm actually agreeing with you. I hate myself for this.
 
SaltyDawg said:
I would honestly like to know, why isn't it grounds to make something legal just because SOME people enjoy doing it?
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I'm nearly certain we've had this discussion before, and since this is the crux of your argument I don't have time/energy to get into it again. Suffice it to say that no, I don't think that's a solid justification for making something legal. You probably are in favor of legalizing all gambling, all types of drugs, all types of marriages (polygamy, incestuous, homosexual), and so forth, but I'm not. And if you get your way you are imposing your views on me by making me live in such a society just as you are claiming I'm imposing my own views on you. Yes, I know you will claim its different because your view doesn't affect my *behavior*. But it affects my *environment*, so there are some definitely similarities, in my opinion.

Plus, in this particular case, we're not just talking about making something legal, we're talking about *changing the nature of government* by either making the government responsible for implementing institutionalized gambling (the lottery) as a means for raising funds, or at the very least making the government responsible for overseeing some external organization which will do that. And affecting the behavior of my government is practically the same as affecting my behavior, since the government officials are my proxies (as well as yours)--and for all we know I may even decide someday to run for office and become part of the government.
 
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