Peter T, I more than agree with your view that it's goverment on horse back selling drugs. My view comes from a slightly different angle. My father made his living & raised our family from the money he collected from people that were trying to buy a dream (similar to drugs). Few ever made a cent from the gamble most just kept on losing, going after the little scraps them had them forever coming back. During the depression the penny (I leave out the real name) pool was going strong in Harlem, the more desperate & poorer the neighborhoods the higher the the amount in the pool. The odds were & are still aways stacked against the dreamer but not enough to turn them off. Dutch Shultz (sp?) found this Harlem pool took it over & streamlined it so it could be mass distrubuted, stakes could go up & crime families, under Dutch's tutelage, knew how to fix the results to maximize profits. So it was criminal then but not now. In the 60's gaming was legal if the bookie had a stamp & paid taxes on it, later on this was overturned & it all became a crime again just about the time when lotteries started (something's begining to stink). Lotteries & bookies all do best when the economy is sinking or sunk, the same time as the demands for drugs increases (there's a dreamy connection here). My father always told me that those that played/paid for the food on our table were fools, so I grew up with a strong distaste for the addiction. I also watched him lose his money every Friday night before he'd reach home, alot like the dealer that sells drugs to keep up the habbit. The very least that the government could do with some of the take is to set up a gamblers annon. program to help those that they've preyed upon but why admit to a problem. Gambling was a criminal enterprise when it served the criminals unless it could be taxed, just because it's in different hands is it less criminal or more moral to prey on the dreams & weaknesses of those that can't pass a game of chance. They're are many that only play here & there, your once & awhilers, in the drug trade they were called chippers (you'd chip away to get at their earnings/savings), they weren't addicted to it, it's only a plain game of fun & chance. The chippers kept a steady flow when there's enough of them & they lent a more respectable picture to the game not to mention the support. Sorry it's so long but not sorry to have carried on, I came up poor & it's the poor that supports & gets taken the worst in the games & I hate to see it. All bets are off, Barry