4 ms·

But I haven't seen (and you haven't shown) any real evidence of governments promoting these vices. I do get your point, there's clearly a conflict of interest h

But I haven't seen (and you haven't shown) any real evidence of governments promoting these vices. I do get your point, there's clearly a conflict of interest here, and I too would prefer people to stop smoking rather than countries making money from it. I reckon that actually the only real limiting factors involved are that if government taxes something like cigarettes too much, then the black market steps in and more people buy untaxed products, cutting the tax revenues. In fact I suspect that's already happening in some countries (black market cigarettes are big in the UK, for instance. There are occasional busts of lorries packed full of untold millions of them, and anecdotally, most people seem to know of someone who sells them). Perhaps (speculation time) this actually keeps governments from even considering promoting vices like smoking? The current balance of taxes and government controls on advertising vs the black market means that there's marginal benefits to increasing demand, and current taxations are 'optimal' ?

sandworm101 11y ago
Really? I cannot turn on the TV or radio without hearing an ad for government-owned gambling. Just look at this: http://www.bclc.com/ http://www.bclc.com/ And here is their twitter feed: https://twitter.com/bclc https://twitter.com/bclc That's the British Columbia Lottery corporation, the crown-owned business with a monopoly on gambling in my province. They buy ads, sell tickets, license betting venues, and even run their own online casino (playnow.com). BC is not unique among states/provinces in this regard. How can one not describe this as governments promoting gambling?
- joosters 11y ago
  It's a company who has the license to run a lottery. Of course they advertise! Now in this case, the company is owned by the crown, but would you expect any different if it was owned by non-government money? I'm still not sure why you think that the government is acting differently here.

sandworm101 11y ago

Really? I cannot turn on the TV or radio without hearing an ad for government-owned gambling. Just look at this: http://www.bclc.com/ http://www.bclc.com/ And here is their twitter feed: https://twitter.com/bclc https://twitter.com/bclc That's the British Columbia Lottery corporation, the crown-owned business with a monopoly on gambling in my province. They buy ads, sell tickets, license betting venues, and even run their own online casino (playnow.com). BC is not unique among states/provinces in this regard. How can one not describe this as governments promoting gambling?

joosters 11y ago
It's a company who has the license to run a lottery. Of course they advertise! Now in this case, the company is owned by the crown, but would you expect any different if it was owned by non-government money? I'm still not sure why you think that the government is acting differently here.