NJ gamblers lost over $1 billion so far

New Jersey gamblers lost more than a billion dollars during the first two months of 2022.

Based upon filings with the Division of Gaming Enforcement, the total gaming revenue reported by casinos, racetracks, and their partners was $373.3 million for February 2022, reflecting a 29.5% increase from $288.3 million reported in February 2021.

For year-to-date, total gaming revenue reported by casinos, racetracks, and their partners was $755.0 million reflecting a 19.0% increase from $634.4 million reported in the prior period.

These revenues do not include the vast sums collected in lottery revenue, which represent losses among people all over the state averaging $270 million each month, based on the total ticket sales of $3 .215 billion in 2020.

Winnings by the gambling industry are equal to the combined losses sustained by individual losing bettors, reinforcing the maxim that gambling is another tax on the poor and minorities.

Most of the money lost on casino gambling around the country, up to 80 percent, comes from households earning less than $50,000 a year, according to a report in the Christian Science Monitor. Several academic studies indicate similar findings.

While our political class promised to encourage economic activity by expanding sports wagering and other gambling, this is all just a form of regressive taxation against our poor has been going for decades.

Most of that new casino revenue—in fact, four times more than from the upper-income half—comes from the lower-income half of the population.

New Jersey legalized the lottery and displaced some organized crime syndicates by introducing casinos to Atlantic City in the early 1970s. The odds of winning with a Powerball or MegaMillions ticket is about one in 300 million.

By comparison, the odds of being struck by lightning in a given year are only around one in 500,000, or 600 times better than betting.

New Jersey’s online gambling industry has been legal since being established 2011, promising to spark a rebirth in Atlantic City but actually resulting in the closure of five of its 12 casinos.

There were four casinos in jeopardy of closing at the end of 2021 before lawmakers cut the industry’s property tax bills by about $5 million and shifting that burden onto homeowners and other taxpayers.

Clever marketing plans convinced poor minorities that they actually had a chance of winning enough money to change their lives — even though the odds are infinitesimal.

Of course, those lower-income family members who gamble at casinos are getting something for their money — a kind of entertainment. And they’re getting the prospect — or illusion — of striking it rich.

If you’re poor, working in a dead-end, low-income job, that prospect is not nothing.

But actually, that prospect — that illusion -— is less than nothing, because it costs money. It could cost a family making, let’s say $30,000, 10 percent of its gross income, or more, if they gamble regularly — not pathologically, but regularly.

So, a 10 percent tax on the poor? That’s legislatively OK. But a 1 percent tax on the rich? Never.

“Costs of poverty” can refer to the costs to the broader society in which poverty exists but people with lower incomes, particularly those living in low-income areas, typically incur higher expenses, paying more not only in terms of money, but also in time, health, and opportunity costs.

Total winnings for the nine casino hotel properties were $212.4 million for February 2022, reflecting a growth of 43.3% compared to $148.2 million for February 2021.

Year-to-date total casino winnings for the nine casino hotel properties was $396.1 million, reflecting a growth of 28.5% compared to $308.3 million for the prior period.

For the month of February, Internet gaming winnings reported by casinos and their partners was $130.0 million, reflecting growth of 38.6% compared to $93.8 million for the prior period.

For the year-to-date period, Internet gaming winnings reported by casinos and their partners were $267.8 million, reflecting a growth of 35.6% compared to $197.6 million for the prior year-to-date period.

Sports wagering gross revenue reported by casinos, racetracks, and their partners was $30.9 million for February 2022, reflecting a 33.2% decline when compared to $46.2 million in the prior period.

Sports wagering gross revenue reported by casinos, racetracks, and their partners was $91.1 million for the year-to-date, reflecting a 29.2% decline when compared to $128.6 million for the prior period.

Lottery tickets are a big financial vice, particularly for the poorest Americans. Among households in the lowest-income bracket, 28 percent play the lottery at least once a week. That’s the case for just 19 percent of households with higher earnings.

Within a year, that means financially strapped households spend $412 on lottery tickets, nearly four times the amount that the highest-earning households admit to spending.

“That works out to $34 a month,” says Greg McBride, CFA, Bankrate’s chief financial analyst. “That’s a substantial enough figure to plug a hole in your monthly budget. That could be the difference between a bill being past due or paid on time, the difference between incurring debt or paying cash for a necessity or the difference between saving or not saving.”

Population loss, tax issues and the poor condition of state finances have become intertwined of late, with many conservatives asserting that New Jersey’s steep debt and tax structure, including high property taxes, was driving out jobs and people.

The facts just do not support such allegations, but lies are persistent and a lot of economic myths find widespread acceptance among voters.

Americans who earn a median income down to the poverty level vehemently defend the right of rich people to keep their vast sums rather than tax them at a higher rate, even when those earning far less pay a greater share of their income as taxes.

The most common argument is that those rich people work hard for their money and they should keep it. The same is said for the middle-wage earner – they work hard for their money and they should keep it.

But poor folks are also working hard for their money and we all need services that the government finances through taxation, so it really makes sense to tax the middle class and the upper class at a higher rate but for some reason, lawmakers keep gambling that the poor are not going to revolt at some point.