Government anti-gambling hypocrisy at a glance

We live in a country where the authorities don’t hesitate to spark a trade war by arresting a man for operating an online sports betting parlor, even though the establishment is located overseas in a country where such an enterprise is perfectly legal. At the same time, our federal and state lawmakers trip over one another to demonstrate their opposition to Internet gambling, egged on by conservative members of the morality police and paternalistic liberals (who could be counted on to rise in fury at a government intrusion into the home if the instruments of pleasure were kinky or combustible instead of a broadband connection, a credit card and a football game). But, hey, I won’t begrudge any private individual his or her hobbyhorse — even those who would deny me my hobbies and my right to dispose of my disposable income on the outcome of tonight’s Red Sox game. It’s strictly the government hypocrisy that burns my backside like a daylong sit on a Dell laptop. And if you want to take a gander at this hypocrisy in all of its shameless glory — hypocrisy at a glance, if you will — then check out this new map just added to MSNBC’s Web site. It’s a map of the United States (and ol’ what’s-its-name to the north) that is littered with dots that each represents a government-run gambling operation, otherwise known as state lotteries. Let me tell you, I haven’t seen that many dots in one place since Mom took us kids over to a neighbor’s house for a visit with the express intent, I learned years later, of getting our chicken pox out of the way (or was it measles?). The company providing the lottery info to MSNBC, rather ironically called Gaming Solutions International, issued a press release about the adoption of its technology. From that release: “MSNBC.com will now be offering its audience a best-of-breed lottery results platform that users will be able to use and enjoy each and every day when visiting MSNBC.com. With over 200 current lottery games in the U.S. alone, and with 74% of U.S. adults playing the lottery regularly, our patent-pending suite of interactive lottery data services will provide MSNBC.com’s visitors with exceptional content they will interact with on a daily basis.” You can even see which state’s lottery jackpots are growing the fastest. Right now it’s California’s SuperLotto Plus, so give Aunt Martha in Modesto a jingle so she’ll buy you a handful of California dreamin’. As for you selectively anti-gambling lawmakers, you can kiss my Dell.