Slot machines are the crack cocaine of gambling

An interesting article about how governors are trying to balance their budgets by legalizing on-line betting in their states. 

Most rational people accept and agree that it doesn't make sense for junkies to ruin their lives with heroin, food addicts to ensure obesity with junk foods, and gambling addicts to blow life savings simply to score dopamine squirts in their brains. 

Ironically, few are interested in understanding that the politicians  trying to balance budgets (by encouraging gambling addiction) are doing it to trigger the same dopamine squirts in their brains with expectations of election day payoffs.  goldenslot

The symptoms for all addictions include self-deception, denial, an indifference to the consequences, and intransigent commitment to continue indulging dopamine-triggering substances and behaviors. 

One difference between addicts involves the dopamine triggers used to score the powerful transmitter. That's why safety, power, acceptance, approval, esteem, money, and religion addicts behave as irrationally as heroin, cocaine, tobacco, food, and gambling addicts. 

A second difference between addicts is that safety, power, acceptance, approval, esteem, money, and religion addicts control the institutions that define addictions. As a result, heroin, cocaine, tobacco, food, and gambling addicts get arrested, judged, and/or demeaned by safety, power, acceptance, approval, esteem, money, and religion addicts who get away with flaunting their addictions. 

In a rational world, governors wouldn't publicly feed their dopamine cravings, by exploiting the dopamine cravings of gambling addicts, because everyone would understand the absurdity of permitting power and esteem addicts to cause so much harm so they could score dopamine squirts in their brains.