We can't put the sports betting genie back in the bottle

I applaud Amanda Blackford and Derek Longmeier's Feb. 14 guest column “Many Ohioans are at-risk gamblers, losing big is easy."

They point out the magnitude of the problem in terms of the number of people affected and the negative effect on the bettor and their families; while providing important info on various support organizations for those facing gambling addiction.

Unfortunately, because the media and professional sports organizations profit from advertising and promote sports betting, we are sure to see it become an ever-increasing part of all our lives with the resultant negative effect on our society.

The positive effect to the state from sports betting is much like the meager returns our lottery provides for education. This is similar to the questionable benefits from other issues that mostly benefit those directly involved, like sports stadiums and tax breaks for new businesses and housing, with their inflated projections of new employment and economic activity.

We can't put the genie back in the bottle; but we can be more discerning when offering incentives to private entities.

It is therefore so ironic that our state legislatures, dominated by one party's gerrymandered successes, can act so quickly and decisively to enact legislation allowing for sports betting, but cannot emerge from the quagmire of partisanship to enact state supreme court mandated revisions to our funding of education and the manner in which voting district boundaries are chosen.

Joe Barmess, Pataskala