The Morality Politics of Lotteries and Casinos: Comparing Gambling Legalization in Tennessee and Mississippi
In: Journal of policy history: JPH, Band 25, Heft 1
ISSN: 1528-4190
In practice, "states" almost never decide whether to legalize "gambling." Instead, each state decides what to do about each form of gambling, usually lotteries, casinos, or both. In an effort to shed light on the question of how the politics of gambling can vary not just from state to state but also from form to form, this article offers extended case studies of two adjacent southern states. Similar in many ways, not least their heavily conservative Protestant populations, Tennessee and Mississippi took overlapping but, in the end, different approaches to gambling. Tennessee considered legalizing casinos but chose instead to create a lottery. Mississippi considered creating a lottery but chose instead to legalize casinos. Adapted from the source document.