If the taxes are too high or the regulations too onerous, black markets will still spring up. Tobacco black markets are everywhere in NYC to avoid the super high state tax.
Also, only so much good can come from "sin taxes". Take lotto (another "sin tax" of sorts). On paper it seems really good for society because all that money can be used for schools and all sorts of social good. But it also has the negative consequence of putting additional financial strain on the people who already have the most financial strain and it's hard to tell if the added funding to schools cancels out the additional financial strain placed on the lower classes.
They're prob gonna join local gambling underground circles though. So that money goes to those peeps instead of being concentrated and hopefully the gov uses it for a better net on society
I go to a gas station, I can buy lotto. I go to a super market, I can buy lotto. And sometimes at whim, I have done that. Remove these and I am unlikely to look for dungeons selling lotto tickets. Ease of access is the problem.
It’s scratch off tickets that are the equivalents of illegal gambling not multi million dollar lotteries because the feedback is instant and the same personalities get addicted to both.
Doubt it. Just like adding extra clicks or login modals reduces the amount of people visiting your website, so increasing friction to do things in real life reduces the number of people doing it. Only the most motivated gamblers would be willing to seek out and participate in "gambling underground circles". Your average convenience store lotto player probably wouldn't bother.
> But it also has the negative consequence of putting additional financial strain on the people who already have the most financial strain and it's hard to tell if the added funding to schools cancels out the additional financial strain placed on the lower classes.
This reads as patronizing. Somebody wants to buy a lotto ticket, that's their business. The alternative to lotto are the numbers games they replaced which were backed by violence.
Also, only so much good can come from "sin taxes". Take lotto (another "sin tax" of sorts). On paper it seems really good for society because all that money can be used for schools and all sorts of social good. But it also has the negative consequence of putting additional financial strain on the people who already have the most financial strain and it's hard to tell if the added funding to schools cancels out the additional financial strain placed on the lower classes.