“Addiction is very much about the speed,” said MIT associate professor Natasha Dow Schüll, author of the forthcoming book, Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas, in an interview. "Faster play accelerates the addictive process."

Illinois Lottery Superintendent Michael Jones said Internet gambling actually may be safer, less likely to result in pathological or addictive play, because the state-run websites can limit the losses of players betting too much money. "Right now I can't control someone walking in and spending $1,000 on tickets in retail stores, but online I can prevent that," he said.

Just because he can doesn't mean he will. State lotteries have not impeded problem gambling, according to Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling. "To claim otherwise ignores history," he said. "There's nothing to indicate lotteries have been more or less responsible than private companies."

Illinois has no current plan to limit individuals’ spending while gambling online. The D.C. Lottery will cap losses at $250 a week, or $13,000 a year, which is not a number particularly inconsistent with degenerate, compulsive play. But that's really no surprise. If the states want to emulate casinos, degenerate, compulsive play is where the money is.

Just look at Oregon: the bulk of that state's lottery revenue comes from slotlike "Video Lottery Terminals" available in places like bars, according to Oregon Lottery interim public affairs manager Chuck Baumann. The Oregoniannewspaper reported in 2009 that the majority of video gambling revenue in that state was attributable to a minority of players: a small 10 percent whose monthly losses averaged $500 each, month in and month out. These are the people powering the lottery.