There is an oncoming maelstrom in Texas — a massive fight brewing over a phenomenon that has already swept through most of the nation.
The fight to legalize gambling.
I find myself in an odd position — in between both the blue hairs on the evangelical right and the purple-haired progressive left — two groups that, while being natural enemies, share the same fetish for telling people from on high how to live their lives. (And sneering and jeering at any who would dare disagree.)
The alt-right idiocrats running the Texas government have radicalized me in favor of letting people live their damn lives without interference from the government. I have watched as our supposedly freedom-loving state has cracked down on THC use, library books, schoolteachers, women’s rights, and trans kids (and their parents). So if one side of an issue expands the liberties of individuals while the other expands the authoritarian power of politicians in Austin, I will err on the side of personal freedoms every time.
That calculus, in my mind, applies to the question of legalized gambling. I’m an adult and I’m a Texan, dammit. If I want to bet $20 on the Rockets to win a game, I should have the freedom to do so. And if I want to put $20 on black, or hit on 15, I sure as shit shouldn’t have to fly to Vegas or — god help me — drive to Oklahoma.
Gambling is a vice. Just like any other vice, gambling can be really fun — if I place a $20 bet on a football game (and granted, I am a very infrequent gambler), I know that the enjoyment I will get from my heightened emotional and financial investment in the game’s outcome is worth $20 to me, even if I were to lose the wager.
But gambling is a vice. And just like any other vice, gambling has a dark side. Studies have shown links between increased access to gambling and increased rates of domestic violence. Gambling companies have engaged in morally bankrupt predatory behavior, targeting addicts and trying to cultivate new ones.
But don’t clutch those pearls too tight; you’ll sprain a wrist. Alcohol companies target heavy drinkers – 25% of drinkers make up over 75% of alcohol consumption. For the second year in a row, more than 13,000 people were killed by drunk drivers in the U.S. last year. Contrary to the popular belief that marijuana isn’t habit-forming, about 10% of people who smoke weed do actually become addicted. Smoking causes lung cancer, chewing tobacco causes jaw cancer, and vaping — as the cool dude in the ad likes to remind us — can deliver toxic metals… in your lungs. So where are the internet saber-rattlers demanding bans on alcohol, tobacco and (cover your ears, Austinites) marijuana?
Because of the ease of valiantly defending the status quo, it’s gambling where people have chosen to draw their self-important line of morality. My proposal is simple — treat gambling just like we treat alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana (in the states where it’s been legalized).
So how do we do that? It means placing reasonable restrictions to prevent folks from literally betting the farm when they might regret it later. It’s giving us a respite from the deluge of gambling advertising that dominates a college football Saturday or an NBA halftime. It’s using some of the Texas dollars that would otherwise be shipped off to Vegas or Oklahoma or Shreveport not just to fund public schools and roads, but to help our neighbors who struggle with addictions.
For most people who want to bet, legalizing gambling would provide welcome entertainment and distraction from the things that make life tough. I deeply believe that, through smart, empathetic governance, there is a way to uphold the liberty of individuals to live their lives as they please while still protecting people who may be vulnerable to the horrors of addiction.
Thanks to the hypocrites on the woke left and the MAGA right, we probably won’t have legalized gambling any time soon. I just hope that a majority of Texans, whose brains are yet to be poisoned by the internet, start supporting politicians who actually believe in things like individual freedom and personal liberty.
But don’t bet on it.