Gambling on Georgia
When a child wants something bad enough but fails to lasso the permission of parents, the youth will often attempt to sway them or pressure them into relenting with this age-old ploy: “So-and-so has one” or “so-and-so is allowed to go.”
State lawmakers are not above employing similar tactics when they want something that has been denied them. They have been even known to avail themselves of it from time to time by pointing to a neighboring or distant state that has what they wish to replicate and announce “it is working for them and therefore it will work for Georgia.”
There is nothing wrong with comparing gains, losses and slippages with other states. After all, most are competing for the same federal funds or job-producing enterprises. How successful a state is at drawing one or both often determines the health of its economy and its bottom line.
Problems occur when legislators net something that works in another state but fails to produce the same results in their own communities. Just because betting and other gambling laws work in places like Las Vegas and states like Florida, for example, does not necessarily mean they are right for Georgia. Their economies are vastly different.
Before copying a law of another state, ask first if it will improve the quality of life of citizens and in what way or how so. If the answer is yes, give it a test drive. If on the other hand the answer is maybe or an emphatic no, leave it alone. Back away from it until it can be further studied or evaluated.
If it poses a change in the state constitution, then voters should determine its fate. Legislators should refrain from using loopholes or legal sleight of hands to effect new laws, especially ones that pertain to gambling, a controversial issue in the Peach State. This is not Las Vegas and it is not Florida.
Georgia is on track and running smoothly. The state has billions of surplus dollars in its general fund budget and in its lottery budget. Resist doing anything that might slow the state down or derail it.