> Lotteries and casinos are recognized as a form of entertainment - gambling - people may not behave rationally and they may end up ruining their lives, but there is a certain folk wisdom that gambling just loses money and you shouldn't do it (except for fun).
This is a pretense. They're recognized as things that generate huge sums of money for nothing for the owners of lotteries and casinos. They refer to them as "entertainment" to abandon responsibility for serious consequences. Cigarette companies would be happy to sell "smoking entertainment."
edit: to be fair, nutritional supplements have basically lobbied their way into the same thing.
This is a pretense. They're recognized as things that generate huge sums of money for nothing for the owners of lotteries and casinos. They refer to them as "entertainment" to abandon responsibility for serious consequences. Cigarette companies would be happy to sell "smoking entertainment."
edit: to be fair, nutritional supplements have basically lobbied their way into the same thing.