At a time when states are suing the Trump administration to preserve their online lotteries, a Florida legislator is moving in the opposite direction. State Rep. Will Robinson has introduced a bill that would permit only in-person sales of Florida lottery 
tickets. To be clear, Florida does not have an online lottery per se but third-party vendors have been selling lottery tickets via phone and Internet, after giving themselves a tidy markup. It’s this practice on which Robinson wants to crack down. “These fraudulent websites are, in my view, illegally advertising when they are not related to the lottery system at all,” Robinson told Florida Politics. “Once you start allowing mobile devices, you are expanding the scope of the lottery.”
The poster child for Robinson’s bill is Floridian Aura Dominguez Canto, who bought a lottery ticket from an Israeli Web site, thereby giving the state a rude surprise when she showed up to claim her $30 million jackpot at a store whose doors she had not darkened previously. After some hemming and hawing, the state paid up but the incident pointed up the dangers of letting third parties get in on the action.
By comparison, New Hampshire is threatening to sue the federal government over its reinterpretation of the Wire Act. The feds’ flip-flop could come between the Granite State and $6 million in lottery-derived revenue. Meanwhile, in Florida, Robinson hopes to have his bill enacted in time to take effect July 1. In addition to barring online sales, it would require lottery tickets and ads to carry the following verbiage: “Warning: playing a lottery game constitutes ambling and may lead to addiction and/or compulsive behaviour. The chances of winning a big prize are very low.” This text would also have to be appended to radio ads for the lottery. Robinson isn’t alone in bucking the trend: A similar bill has been introduced in New Mexico‘s state legislature.
* WalletHub has been evaluating states for their sinfulness and, no surprise here, Nevada comes out on top. The legal-brothel industry alone would probably put it at #1. 
Other factors include greed (numero uno), laziness (fifth), lust (only sixth?), excesses
and vices (#4), jealousy (third) and vanity (#20). At least we’re below-average for anger and hatred (#26), which has to be counted a good thing in today’s America. Nevada is fifth in violent crimes per capita and fifth in share of the population with gambling disorders. The $5 billion lost nationwide to problem gambling, while dismaying, pales in comparison to the $300 billion burden imposed by tobacco addiction. In descending order, runners-up were Florida (first in jealousy), California (second in lust), Texas (tops in lust) and Tennessee (leading the nation in anger and hatred). Most virtuous state in the nation? Vermont, even if its #9 in greed.
