Suspected head of $21B crime syndicate may be world’s most innovative drug lord

Re:Suspected head of $21B crime syndicate may be world’s mos... by umvi on Tuesday November 02, 2021 @09:22PM (#29089994)

If the taxes are too high or the regulations too onerous, black markets will still spring up. Tobacco black markets are everywhere in NYC to avoid the super high state tax.

Also, only so much good can come from "sin taxes". Take lotto (another "sin tax" of sorts). On paper it seems really good for society because all that money can be used for schools and all sorts of social good. But it also has the negative consequence of putting additional financial strain on the people who already have the most financial strain and it's hard to tell if the added funding to schools cancels out the additional financial strain placed on the lower classes.

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Re:Suspected head of $21B crime syndicate may be world’s mos... by throw_this_one on Tuesday November 02, 2021 @09:30PM (#29090053)

They're prob gonna join local gambling underground circles though. So that money goes to those peeps instead of being concentrated and hopefully the gov uses it for a better net on society

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Re:Suspected head of $21B crime syndicate may be world’s mos... by kshacker on Tuesday November 02, 2021 @09:40PM (#29090126)

I go to a gas station, I can buy lotto. I go to a super market, I can buy lotto. And sometimes at whim, I have done that. Remove these and I am unlikely to look for dungeons selling lotto tickets. Ease of access is the problem.

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Re:Suspected head of $21B crime syndicate may be world’s mos... by Retric on Tuesday November 02, 2021 @09:43PM (#29090143)

It’s scratch off tickets that are the equivalents of illegal gambling not multi million dollar lotteries because the feedback is instant and the same personalities get addicted to both.

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Re:Suspected head of $21B crime syndicate may be world’s mos... by umvi on Tuesday November 02, 2021 @09:37PM (#29090109)

Doubt it. Just like adding extra clicks or login modals reduces the amount of people visiting your website, so increasing friction to do things in real life reduces the number of people doing it. Only the most motivated gamblers would be willing to seek out and participate in "gambling underground circles". Your average convenience store lotto player probably wouldn't bother.

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Re:Suspected head of $21B crime syndicate may be world’s mos... by imbnwa on Tuesday November 02, 2021 @09:35PM (#29090087)

> But it also has the negative consequence of putting additional financial strain on the people who already have the most financial strain and it's hard to tell if the added funding to schools cancels out the additional financial strain placed on the lower classes.

This reads as patronizing. Somebody wants to buy a lotto ticket, that's their business. The alternative to lotto are the numbers games they replaced which were backed by violence.

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Re:Suspected head of $21B crime syndicate may be world’s mos... by KZeillmann on Tuesday November 02, 2021 @09:42PM (#29090136)

Another way to look at it is that lotteries are a way for poorer people to subsidize college education for richer people.

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