Gambling - are opponents more likely to be left-wing or right-wing?

[Never Made it to Graceland]

I'm a big opponent of legalized gambling in any form. You would think the Republican Party would be opposed due to their socially conservative stance, but casino moguls like Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn have long been some of the GOP's biggest donors. And of course Trump himself is a (failed) casino man. Plus, Chris Christie pushed for sports betting in New Jersey and other Republicans such as Tom Corbett and John Engler saw casino openings in their state during their times in office. On the other hand I have not seen much opposition from the Democratic establishment or anyone else for gambling, despite the local social and economic cost often outweighing the tax revenue.

[Hope For A New Era]

Equally likely. This is a good example of the horseshoe in action.

[darklordoftech]

Not sure, but I think in the 2019 Kentucky gubernatorial election, Bevin ran on anti-gambling platform and Beshear ran on legalizing gambling.

Maybe opinions on gambling tend to be correlated with opinions on tobacco and alcohol more than they’re correlated with political partisanship?

[dead0man]

authoritarians authoritate from both sides of the room, it is known

[Alcibiades]

I believe that in parts of the South, gambling interests have traditionally been associated with the Democratic Party.

[Santander]

Neither. There are supporters and opponents of all forms of gambling (lotteries, casino, pari-mutuel, online, sports) across the political spectrum.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

There are probably more socons who are against casinos etc. than any other political orientation. There's a strong left-wing case against them, but I don't often hear people actually making it.

[PSOL]

There are probably more socons who are against casinos etc. than any other political orientation. There's a strong left-wing case against them, but I don't often hear people actually making it.

I’ve at this point have never seen anyone being opposed to gambling per se, more opposed to gambling culture and helping corporate rip off poor folks.

[darklordoftech]

Keep in mind that a lot social conservatives see Republicans as the lesser of two evils and not as the greater of two goods. They prioritize judicial appointments over legislation, executive orders, or morality of candidates. Also keep in mind that there’s a lot of voters who call themselves “evangelicals” and vote like social conservatives in general elections (as opposed to primaries), but are either apathetic or liberal when it comes to “morality”. These are the voters who Trump appealed to in the primaries while “moral conservatives” preferred Cruz.

[Santander]

There are probably more socons who are against casinos etc. than any other political orientation. There's a strong left-wing case against them, but I don't often hear people actually making it.

I’ve at this point have never seen anyone being opposed to gambling per se, more opposed to gambling culture and helping corporate rip off poor folks.

While there can be an element of preying on the poor, especially with some forms of gambling like lotteries (which are run by the government, so far from "corporate"), all the research shows that problem gambling is not limited to a specific socioeconomic stratum, just like any other addiction like alcoholism. The real challenge right now, that will grow in the future, is that kids are gambling in unprecedented numbers, and encouraged to do so not only by online casinos or bookmakers, but also by video game companies, social media personalities, and others, and it's not even on the radar in immature markets like the US where the discussion is still around mundane administrative things like who can get a slot machine license.

[Kingpoleon]

There are probably more socons who are against casinos etc. than any other political orientation. There's a strong left-wing case against them, but I don't often hear people actually making it.

I’ve always liked Native American casinos. Really robbing from Peter to pay Paul.

I mean, I guess a cooperative casino with the proceeds going to a poor group of people is a good thing. While I’m generally pretty staunchly opposed to people clinging to their “ethnic identity”, I think it’s rather reasonable in the case of Native Americans, who the federal government has been trying to tear away from their tribal identity for far too long.

[Santander]

There are probably more socons who are against casinos etc. than any other political orientation. There's a strong left-wing case against them, but I don't often hear people actually making it.

I’ve always liked Native American casinos. Really robbing from Peter to pay Paul.

I mean, I guess a cooperative casino with the proceeds going to a poor group of people is a good thing. While I’m generally pretty staunchly opposed to people clinging to their “ethnic identity”, I think it’s rather reasonable in the case of Native Americans, who the federal government has been trying to tear away from their tribal identity for far too long.

Tribal casinos are much worse than corporate casinos, and have always been a massive thorn in the side of regulators. They are much more corruptible, more attractive for money laundering, and can exploit problem gambling with impunity. Players have virtually no legal rights when playing at a tribal casino. And if you look at the actual social results of tribal casinos on Native tribes and reservations, it's mixed, at best.

Casinos should also never be run by a government or a charitable organization, minus perhaps pop-up/seasonal charity casinos for fundraisers and the like. State-operated gambling invariably, by necessity, has worse return to player than private-operated gambling. Same applies to charities. The government needs to be in the business of regulation and taxation, not running gaming operations.

The priorities of government are very clear when it comes to regulating gambling:

- Mitigate problem gambling by funding awareness and treatment programs
- Create an appropriate taxation scheme that funds anti-problem gambling programs and collects general revenue for the public
- Prevent money laundering and other criminal financial activity
- Prevent children and other vulnerable populations from participating in gambling, including regulating advertisements
- License gaming products to ensure fairness to players
- Investigate and prosecute corruption, such as match/spot fixing
- Minimize illegal/unregulated gambling activity