The alleged cheating in the Lotto Corporation should come as no surprise to anyone. Gambling is, by nature, a cheat. Only 50% of the proceeds go back to the bettors which puts it on a par with the old “Numbers” racket in New York. Actually I’ve been told – and I’ve no reason to doubt it – that the numbers racket paid off better that the legalized lotteries.

I’m scarcely a “bluenose” on this subject. I’ve played my share of cards and rolled my share of dice. I was, at one time, a devoted horse player. What I’ve seen from the other side, so to speak, is not a pretty picture. I’ve seen the dirt poor Mexicans buying lotto tickets instead of feeding their babies because there is, in a lottery ticket, a hope of a much better life. The hope is too faint to notice. I’ve seen the welfare moms in casinos playing the slots in hopes that a jackpot might just bring that bit of money to take them out of misery even if only for a day or two.

What the gambling folks don’t stress – hell they never even hint at it – is that you cannot, statistically win. The odds are either mechanically fixed such as in the slots or by the laws of probability in other games of so-called chance.

There is a chance that someone could, with their first gambling dollar, hit a jackpot of a quarter of a million but the fact remains that this doesn’t come close to what the machine has paid off to its owner over time.

We made a big mistake when, back in 1978, BC got into the national Lotto with the feds. That spawned the dinky little casino to raise a bit of money for charity which quickly morphed into Casinos that would make Las Vegas envious. It isn’t that gambling attracts the mob – gambling is the mob.

I’d like to say that the sooner we learn that the better except it’s too late. Powerful interests much including the government are stealing money big time and that’s not going to change. Society is hooked on gambling and nothing is going to change that either

The alleged thievery of Lotto employees is chicken scratch compared to what the government is raking in and that’s the sad truth.