party_pants said:

captain_spalding said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

Casinos are a pretty small percentage of total gambling turnover.

Possibly, but my point is that, if casino operators are as described in the media, they may well be emblematic of people in the gambling industry.

Politicians shouldn’t associate with klutzes like them.

<t.i.c., if you hadn’t guessed>

You’re not much into sports IIRC. The major market of these gambling organisations is sports gambling. They have for years been trying to get their sports betting embedded into the major sporting events. Not just during ad breaks, but during the match commentary. These efforts have been given the kybosh by the Federal government in bits and pieces over the years. The industry still want the regulations repealed and deregulated, so they have open slather.

It’s a bit like tobacco sponsorship of every major sport up until the 90s when people started to question if this was a good thing. Governments have tried to nip it in the bud, but the industry won’t let up. Horse racing is dying a slow death, the greyhounds are one foot in the grave already, they want to branch out into mainstream human sports.

Well, they have lobbyist’s ultimate medicine for what they see as their illness: money.

Maybe not all politicians can be bought, but if you talk to enough of them often enough, i reckon you’ll eventually find one or two.