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A comment on NY Attorney General Tells Daily Fantasy Sports to Stop Taking Bets in the State. Parent comment

Re:NY Attorney General Tells Daily Fantasy Sports to Stop Ta... by rayiner on Tuesday November 10, 2015 @07:54PM (#10543967)
Your question reduces to: why is gambling illegal? And the answer is that lots of people don't like it, and people are entitled to make things they don't like illegal.

A recent poll found that 55% of people think sports betting should be legal, while 33% think it should be illegal: https://www13.shu.edu/academics/business/sports-polling/uplo.... But if you read closely, support drops off dramatically in the 45+ age group, which is heavily over-represented at the polls, especially in local elections.

One study found that the median age of voters in mayoral elections in four cities was 60: http://www.knightfoundation.org/blogs/knightblog/2015/7/28/p....

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Re:NY Attorney General Tells Daily Fantasy Sports to Stop Ta... by Spooky23 on Tuesday November 10, 2015 @09:29PM (#10544432)
Gambling is illegal in most places because it's an addictive behavior that causes a lot of social problems and attracts an undesirable element.

States started rolling out lotteries 50-60 years ago as a regressive tax scheme that also helped to reduce demand for illegal numbers rackets.

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Re:NY Attorney General Tells Daily Fantasy Sports to Stop Ta... by jdminhbg on Tuesday November 10, 2015 @09:19PM (#10544384)
> people are entitled to make things they don't like illegal

Things like gay marriage, flag burning, and atheists holding public office, right?

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Re:NY Attorney General Tells Daily Fantasy Sports to Stop Ta... by GalacticDomin8r on Tuesday November 10, 2015 @09:31PM (#10544438)
That known as the "tyranny of the majority" and yes it's one of those warts no one likes to credit democracy with.
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Re:NY Attorney General Tells Daily Fantasy Sports to Stop Ta... by rayiner on Wednesday November 11, 2015 @12:19AM (#10544950)
Those are the exceptions that prove the rule. Only when it implicates a fundamental right will the majority be precluded from banning things they dislike.
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