Lottery Approves Monitor Games Despite Legislators’ Objections

1 CommentArkansas Lottery

On Wednesday the Arkansas Lottery Commission voted to approve “monitor games” despite objections from lawmakers.

According to testimony from the lottery director and members of the commission, these games will allow players to purchase lottery tickets and watch lottery results on flat-screen televisions in places lottery tickets are sold. Monitor game drawings would occur every four minutes, and games would be similar to keno or bingo.

Explained in the cold light of day, the image doesn’t sound too dangerous: People will watch lottery results on a television screen instead of scratching off a piece of paper. The truth is this opens the door for “lottery” gambling that looks and feels more like casino gambling, with people gathering to wager on games played out via video monitors. The fact that these games will run on a four-minute cycle means lottery play will be fast-paced and continuous–two ingredients that factor heavily into gambling addiction.

This means that very soon Arkansas’ bars, gas stations, or convenience stores could operate more like miniature casinos under the guise of the Arkansas Lottery. By designating a lounge or back room for playing the lottery, any business licensed to sell lottery tickets could set up video screens and terminals for playing these monitor games. In the case of bars and restaurants, patrons may be able to purchase lottery tickets and play variations of keno while drinking or dining. The games at this point will not be the full-fledged video lottery terminals you see in some states–which are interactive, with touch-screens that look and function more like slot machines–but these games are a step in that direction.

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Chick-fil-A Trading Integrity for Profitability

Current Events, Marriage, , ,

Recently, Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy told an interviewer he regrets his company’s pro-marriage stance it took two years ago.

Calling the decision to support traditional marriage “a mistake,” Cathy indicated Chick-fil-A’s priority going forward would be courting a new generation of consumers–one who, if you read between the lines, he must feel supports same-sex marriage.

In a move that’s sure to offend both sides, Cathy said that while his personal views on same-sex marriage have not changed, he does not intend to take a public stance on the issue. To put it another way, gay activists who have been boycotting Chick-fil-A have every reason to continue doing so, and conservatives who celebrated Chick-fil-A for their courageous stance for traditional marriage may decide they would just as soon take their business to Popeyes or KFC.

This back-peddling from Mr. Cathy is incredibly disappointing, and it betrays a failure to grasp the significance of Chick-fil-A’s actions these past few years.

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Obamacare, Nebuchadnezzar, and Religious Liberty

Religious Freedom, , , ,

What does the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego have to do with the Obamacare mandate that forces religious employers to pay for contraception, sterilization, and abortifacients? John Stonestreet with the Chuck Colson Center makes the connection.

Listen:

[audio:http://www.breakpoint.org/images/content/breakpoint/audio/point/2014/TPT504092014.mp3|titles=John Stonestreet – A Choice from Justice Nebuchadnezzar]

“A freedom that comes with a tax or punishment isn’t freedom at all,” Stonestreet says. “Inalienable rights aren’t bought.”

When the government tries to tax or penalize someone for exercising a fundamental right, the government is encroaching on liberty. In the case of religious employers who find contraception, sterilization, and abortion morally objectionable, the government is issuing a clear ultimatum: Either compromise your deeply-held religious convictions, or pay a stiff fine.

To put it another way, employers are free to operate their businesses according to their moral convictions if they’re willing to pay the government. In the case of Hobby Lobby–one of the companies suing over the contraception mandate–this “conscience tax” would amount to millions of dollars per year.

Courts have ruled private corporations enjoy constitutional liberties such as free speech and freedom of the press. Why shouldn’t they also have religious liberty? And why should religious business owners be taxed for obeying their convictions?

There simply is no sensible way to justify it.

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