Difficult economic times force ordinary people to rely on chance. Economists note that the deeper a recession becomes, the more prosperous the gambling industry.
Statistics prove them right: lottery ticket sales in Korea rose 3.4 percent to 3.19 trillion won ($2.95 billion) last year. The 2012 sales figure broke the limit set by an anti-speculation panel for two years in a row, causing the related government agency to push for even higher ceilings.
The finance ministry is going even further to ask the National Gambling Control Commission to get rid of the annual sales restrictions on the lottery. Officials cite two reasons: the lottery is less addictive than other gambling industries, and its share of GDP is half of the OECD average and one-third of other Asian countries.
What these officials failed to say is that the share of other gambling industry sectors, such as horseracing and casinos, is 1.2 times of other OECD countries and more than twice that of Asian neighbors, and that most gambling addicts start with the lottery as a form of light entertainment. Lotteries are a little like drugs, researchers say. The more used to them people become, the more stimulating doses they seek to feel contented.
Most lamentable of all, the government, not some nasty enterprises, is encouraging this unethical and unproductive habit. Aside from the finance ministry, the agriculture ministry, which takes charge of the horseracing industry, is pushing to increase the number of the so-called off-track betting rooms equipped with video screens.
Lottery is often dubbed the ``painless taxation,” one of the handiest sources of revenue. But it takes the form of a regressive taxation, an unfair game in which the poorer the buyers, the bigger their financial burdens. People say there can be few winners in gambling, and lottery is no exception. Reports say four out of five big winners end up divorced or bankrupt, or both, usually in five years of hitting the jackpot.
Officials also say part of the proceeds are spent on charities and other ``good” causes, including education, stressing the weekly lotto gives fun and hope to many working-class people.
Yet a more responsible and capable government would provide a far better social safety net and opportunities for social mobility instead of selling people the right to fantasize for a day or two. The ``pension-type” lotto, which made its debut last year, pays about 3.8 million won a month for 20 years. That is little more than the ``real” pension retired Germans and other northern Europeans receive.
A society where its members find the only hope from lotteries is a hopeless society. The government must find other revenue sources.