Should casinos/lotteries be legal?

[TJ in Oregon]

A lottery is kind of like reverse-wealth distribution; it takes a little bit of money from a bunch of people and gives it all to one. And gambling is also backwards from the sort of risk mitigation most people find economically desireable. I personally feel as though if someone wants me to gamble, they should be offering me a better average outcome than just getting my money back. As far as the legality, I'm not opposed on any moral grounds, so I think it depends on whether or not it would help an area. Clearly banning casinos from Nevada would not be good for their state. But, I also voted against building them in Ohio because I felt it would be more harmful than beneficial by destroying families and increasing addiction. I generally vote against things that we legalize and then spend some of the money from legalization trying to convince people not to do the thing we just legalized. That, and Ohio's amendment prevented local governments from having control over the casinos and expressedly said any game legal in any adjacent state would be legal in Ohio. It seemed like a stupid thing to agree to.