A bill that would have banned lottery ticket vending machines in Arkansas failed today in a House committee. Senate Bill 867, proposed by Senator Sue Madison, failed in the House for lack of a motion. That means the bill is dead, at least for now.

Madison is not a fan of the lottery and previously tried to abolish the lottery entirely. With this bill, her focus was eliminating vending machines that dispense lottery tickets. The state lottery purchased 100 such machines, but so far only eight are operating in stores across Arkansas. Madison believes that the machines are “very attractive to addicted gamblers” and don’t have enough safeguards to prevent minors from gambling. Though there are safeguards in place, Rich Huddleston, executive director of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, testified that the safeguards are inadequate and that determined minors could find a way around them.

Determined to prove Madison wrong, Bishop Woosley, director of procurement for the lottery, testified about how great the safeguards are. He said that players have to swipe an ID card in order to buy a ticket. I suppose it never occurred to him that a minor could easily borrow the ID of an older person. Since they don’t have to show the ID to a person, they don’t have to worry about being caught using someone else’s ID. Another safeguard is that if a store clerk suspects a minor is trying to play, they can use a kill switch to shut off the machine. The safeguard seems to take for granted that convenience store clerks pay attention to things going on in the store. That may be assuming too much.

Still, good idea or not, Madison’s bill is dead for the time being. Any further attempts to ban the machines will have to come at a later time with a new bill.

As the Great Recession continues and states look for ways to close budget shortfalls, many are turning toward their inner Libertarian. A more free market means a greater flow of money through the state. Taxing it provides more revenue for the states. Therefore, many states have learned (finally) that more freedom is good for the economy. For that reason, a handful of states are considering gambling expansion.

Other states aren’t interested and are instead trying to clamp down on the gambling that already exists. One such example is the state of North Carolina, the most liberal state in the south. Back in 2006, the state legislature banned video poker gambling machines. They exempted two models of sweepstakes machines, though, and those have been in operation ever since.

Now the state’s General Assembly wants to ban those sweepstakes machines as well. Democrats Melanie Goodwin and Martha Alexander have proposed House Bill 80, which would entirely ban video gambling in the Tar Heel State.

Why would they want to ban the sweepstakes machines? For your own good, of course! Like most liberal politicians, they feel they need to protect people from themselves. Some of the reasons they give for the proposed ban are that the games have low odds of winning (yet they still allow a state lottery), they prey upon the poor (yet they still allow a lottery), and that they lead to an increase in armed robbery, with people trying to steal from the machines. At the risk of being repetitive, let me just say “yet, they still allow a state lottery!”

Lotteries have incredibly low odds of winning, are played more by the poor than by the middle and upper classes, and are often the targets of robbery. However, the great state of North Carolina is more than happy to run the lottery and make money off of it. Maybe instead of banning the sweepstakes machines, they should just call them the North Carolina Sweepstakes and take most of the money while promising it will be used for education.

More and more states have been expanding gambling lately. For some, it’s in order to provide more revenue to states that are strapped for cash. For some, it’s a civil rights issue, where they feel a ban on gambling goes against the freedom of people to spend their money as they please. For others, it’s simply because they like regulating things.

Last year, the state of Illinois passed a law that legalized video gambling in the state. It was done with the thinking that any city or town that didn’t want to be a part of the gambling industry could opt out by banning it. Anyplace in the state where video gambling wasn’t specifically banned would be made legal by the new state law.

When that happened, the city of Chicago quickly passed a ban on video gambling machines. Since it’s Chicago, the more corrupt city in America, I’m guessing it’s because the anti-gambling lobby paid the politicians more money than the pro-gambling lobby did. After all, money is the grease in the Chicago political machine.

After hearing pleas from supporters of video gambling, the Chicago City Council finally agreed to consider overturning the ban. After listening to the groups, the Council had a hearing on the video gambling ban on Monday. The outcome of the hearing – if there was an outcome – is unknown.

The battle over the legalization of video gambling at the state level was intense and at times it has been in Chicago as well. Supporters state that overturning the ban will result in increased revenue as well as a creation of jobs. Considering Chicago is going bankrupt and has an unemployment rate over 11%, both are big issues. Of course, since this is Chicago, I doubt the City Council cares what is good for the people and will only act in their own interests. That means that the pro-gambling lobby better start making good offers.

Of course, I’m not advocating bribery or any other sort of corruption. I am only acknowledging that it is rampant and expected in the Windy City. The pro-gambling lobby wasn’t “convincing” enough the first time. Let’s see if they do a better job this time.