Numbers Racket

I have lived in a state that does not have gambling, except for the horse track in Hot Springs, the dog track at West Memphis and shortly the lottery state wide. The horse track and dog track doesn't really count as gambling because they were already here before gambling started, whatever that means.

Gambling is gambling. You put your money down and you lose. The house wins and the State wins. Rare is the gambler that wins, that actually gets ahead and stays ahead.

The lottery has been proposed and voted down a couple of times in this state, but it was like gambling. The lottery people kept proposing until they won. They only needed to win once and they won. The losses didn't count. That one win and we have a lottery.

The lottery used to be called the numbers racket, and it was not legal. People were sent to jail for running a numbers racket. Now the numbers racket is run by the states. That makes it legal for some reason, but it is still the numbers racket.

The lottery is coming to our state later this September and perhaps it should properly be called the Arkansas Numbers Racket.