Letters to the Editors--RE: PA Lottery (GUS)

[pirateron]

Here is a copy of a letter I sent to 3 different newspapers regarding "Gus." Needless to say, none found it worthy of print.

What do y'all think?


Dear Editor,
Who is the Pennsylvania Lottery gearing their advertising to? "Gus, the second most famous groundhog in Pennsylvania," is a cute, cuddly, talking stuffed animal. This is obviously aimed at the youth of Pennsylvania. Camel brand cigarettes had to give up "Joe Camel" (an ugly big nosed caricature) because it was said that children would start smoking because they saw a cartoon smoking. Can't the same be true regarding gambling and a cute fuzzy doll? One doesn't even need to have proof of age since anyone can walk up to the scratch off distribution machines and buy tickets there. Watch one of these machines on a Saturday afternoon in a local grocery store. Watch as children run up to the machine (usually located near the gumball machines) with its brightly colored tickets, and beg their parents for a dollar. More surprisingly, watch how many parents relent to this request and actually allow the child to put the money in and push the button for a ticket. Watch how many younger people, under 18, waste their hard earned allowances by trying to hit it big. Is the fine Commonwealth of Pennsylvania trying to lure children into gambling with scratch off tickets, hoping they advance to wasting their money in the more lucrative casinos? Either way, the State gets their cut of the profits. What's next, putting kiddie poker machines in daycare centers? Best to start them off young, to desensitize them to losing money.

The Pennsylvania Lottery Commission should be ashamed of itself for allowing this blatant attempt to victimize our youth, by promoting gambling as an accepted, cute, fun way of life.

Please, let's put "Gus" away. Let's have real commercials of people not being able to pay their mortgages because they gambled their money away. Let's make it harder for minors to get hooked on gambling by removing these lottery ticket vending machines. Let's teach our children that gambling is an addiction and a habit, much the same as smoking and drinking, not something fun to do with your stuffed animals.

[LittleRedToyota]

LOL...that is hilarious.

[Ten*K]

and let's teach our children that if you are going to gamble, for f*ck's sake play table games! Feeding your hard earned money into a lottery machine or a computer controlled slot machine (that seem to have a remarkable ability to make jackpot payouts to PA Legislators) is not only dumb, it's also pointless, stupid, and moronic.

Be a Parent Teach your kids Poker and Craps.

[Pennywise]

Craps for me

[armabill]

Very well written. What newspapers have you tried to get it printed?

[RocketFoot]

Who would want to use a varmint for a mascot anyway? I like to shoot groundhogs! LOL

They should show a bingo game at the local Moose Lodge full of chimney smoking, grumpy old ladies fighting over the last 50/50 ticket! Now that's what gambling is all about! LOL

PS: Gambling is a tax for people that suck at math & statistics!

[LastManOut]

Lottery Tickets: State Tax for the stupid

[chesire17201]

Craps for me

blackjack here......always seem to have better odds......unless some a@@hole is playing in front of you that has no idea how to play.....

[pirateron]

Very well written. What newspapers have you tried to get it printed?

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette
The Tribune review
and the Beaver County Times

All about 2 weeks apart, (since they say they want letters to be exclusive) and never heard nothin back from any of em

[Johannes_Paulsen]

and let's teach our children that if you are going to gamble, for f*ck's sake play table games! Feeding your hard earned money into a lottery machine or a computer controlled slot machine (that seem to have a remarkable ability to make jackpot payouts to PA Legislators) is not only dumb, it's also pointless, stupid, and moronic.

Be a Parent Teach your kids Poker and Craps.

No joke. The alleged "casino" down in Washington County is ridiculous. Go there, put a dollar in, press a few buttons and it tells you you lost. Put another dollar in, press a few buttons, and it tells you: congratulations! You win $0.50! Repeat. I lost interest in about two minutes.