[simplicio]

The $ argument in favor of this seems a little silly. The $ brought in a millionth of the US military budget.

Think the best argument presented in the piece is just that some non-trivial fraction of soldiers are going to gamble, and its better they do so in a manor controlled by the military then backroom poker games, online, etc.

[mpyne]

This was also the operating logic from the time when military bases would have bars (and even some seedier things). You generally had an enlisted club and an officers' club on base, and yeah drunken behavior may result, but it resulted on base.

The foot traffic at these spots is nowhere near what they used to be though.