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Private bookie, bad; government bookie, good

Oct 4th, 2007 by Taylor Armerding

I’m shocked. Outraged. Disturbed. Deflated. Disillusioned. Yes, all of those emotions wash over me as I read about the Methuen man who is the alleged mastermind behind a sports betting operation in Massachusetts and New Hampshire that was doing about $1 million a week in business.
Yeah, there’s some drug charges in there too, but what’s really disturbing is the gambling, don’t you think? I mean, $1 million a week. That’s $52 million a year. The whole thing was well organized, according to the authorities, who say there were more than 100 bettors involved and that Mr. Mastermind, Carey Hamilton, was making as much as $15,000 from his bookmaking activities.
It made me think about dropping a dime, though. I’ve heard about this other gambling operation that makes $52 million look like less than pocket change. This one’s $4 billion a year, and operating in plain sight, right in front of the authorities. I think it ensnares thousands of regular bettors each week, too.
But yeah, OK, I know - it’s the authorities themselves who are operating it. And this one’s fine, because government gets a nice fat cut of the profits. Ain’t nobody from the Mass Lottery going to be doing the perp walk.

Posted in Taylor Armerding | Comments

  • Kathy Thompson
    I think your math is a little off. If it is indeed $1M per week, that's equivalent to $52M per year, not $365M. That would be if it were $1M per day, which I seriously doubt. OK?
  • jacrlsn
    Ms Thompsons comments are correct, which of course makes your comments all the more cogent.
  • Thanks to Kathy. My math wasn't a little off. It was waaay off. Since corrected. But thanks to Jim, too. It does make the contrast between the criminal gambling we wring our hands about and the legal gambling the bookie state relentlessly promotes even more extreme.
  • George W. Bush
    I think I'd like to hire you for my cabinet. You got the math skills to get the job done right.
  • Tom Delaney
    Where does good government begin and where does it end? We knkow from James Madison that only an imperfect government can exist. Only GOD knows, certainly not this blogger. Keeping this in mind, I have to bring up an email sent to Taylor on 02/19/2007 regarding the subject "More government RIP-OFF/CA Lottery for children." Granted, this email was subject to copyright; however, Taylor could have asked me to reprint some of this dissertation unless it was taken out of context. Please allow me to quote a portion of this email.

    "NOW WE HAVE THE FINANCIAL FIGURES FOR FY 2005/2006. TOTAL MONEY COLLECTED FROM THE LOTTERY IN 21 YEARS..$49,931,981, 304. THAT'S ALMOST 50 BILLION DOLLARS! TOTAL MONEY PAID IN INTEREST..$357,939,150. THAT'S JUST SHY OF 358 MILLION. THAT COMPUTES TO 0.71%. HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!"

    Who do you trust? Your elected politicos or the Mafia? Mr. Carlson is correct in using the word "cogent." However it is high time for the American people to become "cogitative."
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