It’s Just Too Tempting

ED: So guys, you know, thinking about the history of gambling across American history, I’m struck with where we are right now, that it seems that gambling is just too profitable to the state to let it go. I mean, it’s not unlike tobacco and alcohol and now pot, where if there’s money to be made from regulating it and putting a tax on it, the temptation to gamble by the state is just too strong.

BRIAN: Well, Ed, you know what I learned from the show is that states depended on revenues from lotteries from the very start. And Peter talked quite eloquently about that.

What we didn’t talk about during the show is a pretty significant period of time when every state outlawed gambling. And so that when Las Vegas comes along in the middle of the 20th century says, oh, we can have gambling here, it was a really, really big deal. So that shows the power of religious groups operating at the local level to really stop gambling, at least, in a legalized form.

PETER: And I think it also tells us something about the way we feel about the state and what it does because what’s at the bottom of all this is anti-tax feeling. That’s All-American and I think it’s something we need to pause and think about. What is the state supposed to do? It’s now associated with our vices.

ED: And a lot of people would point out, too, that it’s one of the most regressive ways of developing state revenue that you could possibly create. The income tax, Brian, in the 20th century comes along and taxes people by how much money they make. But this is almost a tax on how little money you have, that you’re desperate enough to buy lottery tickets in the hope that you’ll be able to get yourself out of the box you’re in.

BRIAN: Well, you know, Ed, once the state becomes addicted to revenue, they’ll reach for it anywhere they can get it.

ED: You know, it would be a lot easier to get rid of if we weren’t using the state revenue for undeniably good things like underwriting entire systems of financial aid for college students. I mean, there are entire states that are built on lottery income. And people are dreaming of a tuition free college education. The quickest way to find that is just like back in Jamestown with a lottery.

PETER: That’s going to do it for us today, but we’re betting on you to join us online. Tell us what you thought of the show and ask us questions for our upcoming episodes on the history of political correctness and the Alexander Hamilton phenomenon.

You’ll find us at backstoryradio.org or send an email to backstory@virginia.edu. We’re also on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. BackStory Radio, whatever you do, don’t be a stranger.

ED: BackStory is produced by Andrew Parsons, Bridget McCarthy, Nina Earnest, Kelly Jones, and Emma Gadek Jamal Millner is our technical director. Diana Williams is our digital editor with help from Briana Azar. Melissa Gismondi helps with research.

BRIAN: BackStory is produced at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Major support is provided by the Shere Khan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. Additional funding is provided by the Tomato Fund, cultivating fresh ideas in the arts, the humanities, and the environment, and by History Channel, history made every day.

FEMALE SPEAKER: Brian Balogh is professor of history at the University of Virginia. Peter Onuf is professor of history emeritus at UVA and senior research fellow at Monticello. Ed Ayers is professor of the Humanities and President Emeritus at the University of Richmond. BackStory was created by Andrew Wyndham for the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.

BRIAN: BackStory is distributed by PRX the Public Radio Exchange.