In some parts of the world, charitable organizations are the ones who take control of some gambling operations. The idea is for these organizations to raise additional income through gambling activities. More so, people who take part in the gambling activities are also given the chance to give to charity.
In Michigan, for example, the scale of operations of charity-sponsored gambling is quite large. Take a look at these figures (courtesy of The Associated Press):
The Michigan Lottery reports it issued 681 Millionaire Party licenses for casino style gambling games in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2004. That grew to 4,043 in fiscal 2008.
The casino-style games earned Michigan charities $3.6 million in fiscal 2004 and $10.5 million in fiscal 2008.
Overall, all forms of charitable gambling in Michigan took in $479.9 million in fiscal 2008, and $75.1 million in profits went to charities.
Not bad, huh? Not everyone is happy with the way things are going though. Authorities are looking at stricter controls. They think that “real” casinos are suffering from such activities by the charities. On the other hand, we have people who have problems with the activities based on moral grounds. They feel that charities should raise money in other ways. This is a bit tricky as not everyone sees gambling in the same light. Some people would say that it shouldn’t matter if the money comes from gambling as long as the profits go to a good cause.
What is your take on this?
Originally posted on October 14, 2010 @ 3:19 am