The state of Nevada in 1931 was the first to ignore what gambling does to destroy individuals and families and legalized it to lift the state out of the Depression.

That sorry-eyed excuse for a public policy was followed by a cascading wave of legalized gambling across the country that has since placed tens of millions of families far down into the depths of economic and emotional depression.

America next decided that legalized sports gambling should be our next great bet and we are implementing that policy across the country today.

Now comes news that up to 8% of 12- to 17-year-olds have a serious gambling problem. States are putting a bandaid on the problem by requiring public schools to introduce curriculum to teach about the risks.

Teenagers can hardly wait to do the stupid things that their parents do, so maybe this approach is too little too late.

Democracy doesn’t do well when casinos and the internet eat the lunch of working people across the country. But gambling is truly a great policy to further the wealth gap between the ultra-wealthy and the debt-ridden middle and poor classes of America.

America’s next step will be to legalize gambling on undocumented immigrant gladiators vying to kill each other for our entertainment pleasure during halftime at football games.

Kimball Shinkoskey, Woods Cross

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