Florida Senate considers lottery addiction warning bill

How addictive are lottery tickets and scratch cards? Though they seem innocuous, they present just as much of a threat to a gambling addict as a slot machine or a craps table. But most people, including gambling addicts, don’t see it that way and lawmakers in the state of Florida are looking to change that viewpoint entirely.
Under the terms of a bill that’s currently being considered in the Tallahassee statehouse, lottery tickets and scratch cards would be required to carry warnings such as, “Warning: Lottery games may be addictive,” and “Play responsibly.” An earlier version of the bill that was under consideration by the Florida House of Representatives suggested a much more aggressive warning label reading, “Warning: Playing a Lottery game constitutes gambling and may lead to addiction and/or compulsive behavior. The chances of winning a big prize are very low.”
Appropriations Chairman Rob Bradley, who supports the shorter version, told CBS Miami that lawmakers have an obligation to warn players about the dangers of gambling addiction saying, “For some folks, their brain works in a way that they can become addicted to gaming just like you can become addicted to alcohol and drugs.”
Florida Lottery Secretary Jim Poppell urged lawmakers to step back from the warnings by suggesting that because they go far beyond simply a printed warning on the ticket. Under the terms of the bill, they would go on, “.,,just about everything that could be construed as promoting the lottery. That would be vending machines, play stations where you get your paper to bubble in the numbers, on every sign, on every advertisement — radio, television, social media, what have you.”
Lawmakers passed a similar bill in a past session, but that bill was ultimately vetoed by then Governor Rick Scott.