SAN PABLO, Calif. — Seven people are facing felony bookmaking charges after authorities say they were operating an illegal lottery out of four markets in San Pablo and Richmond, California.
Authorities say the lottery was broken up after a sting operation led by the California Lottery's Security and Law Enforcement Division.
Investigators say the seven suspects sold homemade tickets to buyers who were placing bets on numbers in an actual California Lottery game.
Lottery spokesman Bill Ainsworth says though there was no evidence any of the bookies cheated their customers, only the state can legally run a lottery.
The seven suspects were arrested Wednesday after an undercover investigation that began last month.
Gambling is Illegal except if the Government is Running It!
Kind of says something about the government, eh. Paul Revere ran a lottery for silver objects to help raise funds for the war for independence. I believe Thomas Jefferson did too. Government and church gambling is a long held tradition and I have to say that these entities do not want competition for the funds. Our government is by the people and for the people and if we wanted private gambling, we would have it. Just consider casinos for example. Private lotteries are too hard to regulate. That is the long and short of it. The government has enough trouble with its own lotteries.
Remember, lottery=sucker bet no matter how you slice it. You just hope to win. It's easy money for whoever runs it and the government knows this.
Unfortunately, the people who run the government consider everyone else to be stupid. This changes with the free exchange of information.
tenja, whats up?
Exactly!
The Government does not want anybody getting it on it's game!
Sort of like a gang taking out a rival gang to keep ALL the spoils.
My old man had the same policy when I was a kid.
Do as I say - not as I do.