Prince George's County is all a-buzz with interest on
gambling,on gaming and in casinos as a quick fix for its budget problems. The basic idea is that lots people like to
play slots or take their chances at gaming tables. The incoming from lotteries
and the high tax rates on casinos are revenue sources for government. And
management and ownership team of a casino stand to make considerable money too.
So there is a common interest between government and casinos to see the
establishment of gaming especially in down turns in the economy . All of this
benefits in the near-term, the powerful political elite's ability to distribute
the resources of government and a small cadre of their development partners to
support their profit statements. It doesn't do much for the public at large,
outside of creating a low paying part time jobs and putting a few older hotel
and eateries out of business.
In
addition to visiting gaming tables, the lottery is another form of payment by
individuals to the government. The average American household spends $500 per
year on lottery rather than inverting in a personal savings account. This
brings me to the idea of a savings lottery, an idea that this county would
never support because it would benefit the many and not necessarily the few. A
savings lottery, already in place in other jurisdictions around the world, is a
way to feed the desire to win without producing anything and at the same tome bolster
personal savings.
A
savings lottery would appear to be a lottery ticket to its buyer with the same
feeling of a sure thing bet on tomorrow, while in actuality being a deposit
into a special savings account. The
player actually keeps, instead of loses, the entirety of his or her discretionary
bet. Prize money comes by aggregating the interest from all the deposits. Just like lotteries there could be daily,
weekly or even monthly drawings; there would be prizes worth dreaming about:
$1000, $10,000, even $1 million. The
system would attract people because more they bought, the more chances they
would get.
This is
such an intriguing idea that Prince George's County would never even dream of
considering it, because it has little to offer the elite and powerful and much
to benefit the rest of us. Our county is so busy dreaming of things that once
were, that we miss things that could be. Imagine playing a game of chance to
win $10,000 and saving the hard-earned price of the ticket at the same time.
That is what the Michigan Save To Win
program does, and what we cannot see because it would be too obvious a benefit
for many and of little use to the established powerful Prince Georgian few.
Michigan's Save to Win touts that with "every $25
you put into a share certificate at a participating credit union is another
chance to win and save. In the end, you’ll at the very least walk away with
your savings, plus interest. If you have not saved before, you are not alone --
more than half of all Save to Win accountholders did not have a regular savings
plan before Save to Win." Rather
than Win and save, Prince George's is trying hard to start the Give, Grow and
Groan - you give your money and the rich
grow richer while you groan at the cost of your support for their endeavors.
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