Las Vegas Sun

November 7, 2009

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Letter to the editor:

A lower gambling age makes no sense

Paul Sawler, Laughlin

Friday, Nov. 14, 2008 | 2:03 a.m.

In response to a Las Vegas Sun editorial on Wednesday, “Minors and gambling: Question about whether to lower gambling age should be met with a resounding no,” I can say only this:

We should find it ridiculously and embarrassingly irrational to lower the legal gambling age to 18. Should we really take time and money from students about to graduate from high school? Is this really a morally viable solution to boost state revenue?

Every casino in Nevada that I’ve ever been to offers free alcoholic beverages to players. Should we lower the drinking age to 18 as well? Or should the 18-year-olds be forbidden from consuming alcohol, thus subjecting casinos to more frequent and costly alcohol violations?

And what about other states with casinos? Would those casinos follow suit, using Nevada as an “if they can do it, so can we” approach?

As anyone can see, this issue raises more questions than it does solutions. There have got to be better ways to fix our economy than targeting teenagers. They’re under enough pressure in today’s world as it is.

We should keep that in mind and give them the years they need to think about their futures.

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