Lotto blotto.

• Author: Peters, Charles
• Position: Brief article

"South Carolina officially started its state lottery yesterday, becoming the last state on the East Coast to add government-sponsored gambling," reported the Associated Press recently. And The Wall Street Journal reports that state-sponsored slot machines are now in use in nine states: Delaware, Iowa, Maine, New York, Oregon, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and West Virginia. Pennsylvania will soon join them, and other states are considering the move.

The Journal calls slots "one of the most popular and addictive forms of betting." If they are addictive, why are states sponsoring them? Because, observes Richard Leone, who was a member of the national gambling commission, they see the revenue...