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Opinion: Lottery tickets gateway for youth gambling addiction, says Rensselaer Falls man

Posted 8/14/18

To the Editor: I listen to our local radio station frequently, and the ads from New York Council on Problem Gambling concerning youth gambling come up often. I think the message is great, but my …

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Opinion: Lottery tickets gateway for youth gambling addiction, says Rensselaer Falls man

Posted

To the Editor:

I listen to our local radio station frequently, and the ads from New York Council on Problem Gambling concerning youth gambling come up often.

I think the message is great, but my concern is that I think it is hypocritical of New York government to

on one hand sponsor a state lottery to pay for public education, and then promote awareness on youth gambling.

It’s easy to have a message that encourages parents to teach and set a good example to their children concerning gambling,

but considering that many families are single parent households, which makes it difficult to spend time with children to do so.

Worse, some parents themselves, often poor, spend proportionally more of their limited income on State lottery tickets, often buying them

for their children as birthday and holiday presents s they can vicariously enjoy the thrill seeing their children scratch off a lottery ticket.

In this manner the NY Lottery is enabling and exploiting the poorest of the poor who do not view lottery tickets as mere entertainment, but a desperate chance to get out from their poverty. A behavior that trickles down to their children.

I find it akin to the tobacco industry that spends millions to lure young people into smoking.

If our State government truly cares about our youth becoming hooked into gambling, then it would behoove them to abolish the state lottery, which has been firmly established as a “gateway” for youth to be addicted to gambling.

Ron Shirtz

Rensselaer Falls