The irony is that the introduction of video poker to the Oregon Lottery occurred while Barbara Roberts was Oregon's governor. The WWeek article says that Roberts was "ambivalent" about the video poker bill, which she allowed to become law without her signature.
Big mistake. With the subsequent addition of video slot machines, Lottery revenues now account for 7% of the state's budget. Some blame the ever-increasing revenue from state-sponsored gambling for the reluctance of Oregon's voters to approve tax increases, or to consider any significant reform of Oregon's tax code.
But that may all change come January 1, when Oregon's ban on indoor smoking takes effect. It seems that video gambling addicts are also usually hooked on nicotine. They typically chain smoke while they play. The smoking ban, therefore, does not bode well for Lottery revenues in the coming year.
I heard Willy Week editor Mark Zusman interviewed on KPOJ's early show this morning. The ever informative Thom Hartmann pointed out that addictive behavior has been linked to a dopamine receptor gene, so it came as no surprise to him that compulsive gamblers are often also heavy smokers.
Like me, Hartmann bemoans the rise of state-sponsored gambling in Oregon. It's a tax on the most vulnerable of our citzens, he says, those with chemically induced compulsions. They're exploited by the state in the scramble for easy money.
Barbara Roberts, of course, was a mere coda to Willamette Week's examination of the future of the Oregon Lottery. She was one of three women portrayed in the piece, and, aside from the irony, by no means the most important. The other two were described as the "winner" and the "loser" (the latter has sworn off video gambling.)
The "winner", as Willamette Week described her, is more likely a loser as well. She claims to have won $494,000 since early 2000 on Keno alone while gambling $500 a week. According to my calculations, the "winner" has spent well over $200,000 on the lottery. That means either she won a few big Keno prizes as well as some video poker jackpots, or she's pouring a lot more into the machines than she's willing to admit.
Lottery games, you see, guarantee that the player, over time, loses. I once calculated that the Oregon Lottery returned no more than 40 cents on the dollar. That means that if you put $10,000 into the machines, you'll lose $6,000. Guaranteed. These are games of chance. Not skill.
Barbara Roberts claims that the games she plays at Kay's Bar and Grill are fun. I say they're anything but. If you want to gamble, play low stakes poker once a week as I used to do. That's fun. And you can actually win in a poker game with some skill. And a little bit of luck.
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