[jnbiche]

You know, I'll let your ad hominem stand with no comment, but I will point out that I removed my initial "vulgarism" before you responded, leaving only an edit trail for the benefit of other commenters.

And I understand better now, you're emotionally involved in the issue. I'm sorry your relatives have this problem, but they'd have the same issue with the state lottery in every state I've ever lived, since none of them require an ID (so no way to prevent people from spending their last dollar).

And no, gambling doesn't make many people rich. I think most of us know that, at least from a rational perspective.

By the way, alcohol very near ruined my life permanently, before I stopped drinking 10 years ago. Should I call for peoples' enjoyable evening glass of wine to be banned, and for them to be "severely prosecuted"?

And good luck with your "all gambling will be prohibited". More and more states are legalizing gambling, since it's a nice revenue stream.

[kolev]

Be fair - you edited to avoid downvotes. I can't simply by offended by words especially today when even women curse like sailors. It was a suggestion to you. Strong emotions can be expressed better by using proper language as well - it's harder, but it has a stronger effect. A startup covered here had a moto "Do Shit That Matters". I tweeted suggesting them to change it do "Do What Matters", which has the same meaning, but is less ghetto. I like "I fucking love science" Facebook page, but, really, how was that F word really necessary?

Regarding gambling, I am talking about distant future (20+ years from now). In 20 years, alcohol might be irrelevant, but today, two glasses of red wine, for example, have a health benefit. What is the benefit of putting $20 in a slot machine? Maybe some arm exercise.

Gambling tricks the brain differently. If you get a hangover, next time most people will be more careful drinking as much. I got drunk once pretty severely and now I get stick just smelling hard liquor (thank God, red wine is okay). With gambling, after a big loss, people often rush back in the casino as soon as possible to try to recover what they've lost.