No one is saying gambling should be illegal or the government should somehow force people to stop gambling... But there is so much that could be done to try an

No one is saying gambling should be illegal or the government should somehow force people to stop gambling... But there is so much that could be done to try and limit the damage it's doing to poorer populations, and increase the good it's doing for those populations at the same time. Bans and restrictions on advertising lotteries, limiting points of sale per sq. mi., actually using the funds as claimed when instated, focusing on the types of gambling and their effect on addiction rates (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-excess/202003/problem-gambling-vs-gambling-addiction https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-excess/202003/pro...), changes to the actual act of playing the lottery (even things as simple as purchasing process can have profound effects on how people get their "hit" from gambling). Look at cigarettes, they're still legal, yet through policy America has gone from a country where the vast majority of adults smoked (almost 70%), to one where less than 15% of the population does. Now this being HN I need to put the disclaimer that I'm not saying every piece of tobacco legislation maps perfectly to gambling if you Ctrl+F replace... but it shows how truly vast the gully between banning something and letting it proliferate is. If there was truly interest in helping these people there are countless levers that could be used to try and balance the scale. But there's the perverse combination of financial incentive to do nothing, and political disincentive to do anything as long as politicians can get away with their treatment of these people.