This is just ME but my wife and I go to the casino's back home KC) about 2 or 3 times a year. Going to a casino is entertainment. Just like going to the city, having a really nice dinner, going to a movie and maybe having a few drinks at a club or in comparison say going to a chiefs game on a Sunday. Either way you are going to drop at least a couple of hundred dollars. We go into the casino with a couple hundred and play for hours. It's entertainment. We don't expect to come out ahead but have more often than not. There will always be people that abuse it. We drive..people abuse that by drinking. We drink but there are drunks, we have the internet and people abuse and misuse it. Anything used in excess in bad and some people will give in to the gambling addiction. These are probably the same people who spends 25% of their checks on lottery tickets hoping to hit it big instead of saving or investing that money. You cannot regulate stupidity and irresponsibility. Virtually everything we have is our society is misused by some and for that they may suffer but why keep those that will benefit from something from having it?
As far as social costs...I don't see any lobby to get rid of the packing plants and to be honest with you almost all of the
DC problems can be traced back to the plants in one way or another.....so if anyone wants to talk about social costs that would be a GREAT place to start....