César Jules is credited with this sentence: " give them bread and games and I take care of the rest »(Hence the circus games!)
At that time, poverty was great and Rome was invaded by a population coming from the countryside hoping to find work there, but in reality made them unemployed. Nothing new under the sun ! 20 centuries later The "Romes" have multiplied on earth and, for our French society, the phenomenon is obvious.
It is easy to note that the more individuals lack the necessary (vital or not) the more they lock themselves into the illusion of a miracle that could get it out of this situation and our current Caesars have largely taken the formula of the Roman Caesar.
"La Française des Jeux sees its capital held 72% by the State, providing it with cash more than 3 billion each year. Between 1990 and 2012, the turnover of the French games has quadrupled to 12,1 billion while the gross domestic product only doubled. Thus the 26,2 million French players blithely lose 4,2 billion (that is to say the 35% that the State does not return to the players. "
"If the players played an average of 460 euros at the games of the FDJ (NOTE: this sum only concerns the FDJ to which all other games such as racing, casinos and other betting systems including sports betting should be added.). These bets are distributed to 37% of so-called CSP players (workers and employees), 35% inactive (retired and without official work) and 28% of CSP +. The first two categories, the most financially fragile, therefore represent 72% players. According to a joint INPES and OFDT survey, players classified as excessive (around 1.3% of the total population are mostly low-income people. 58% of the players questioned declare an income of less than 1.100 euros "While just under half of tax households are not subject to income tax. You could say that the puncture of the FDJ constitutes a hidden tax."
"The few behavioral studies, conducted abroad especially and more recently in France, agree more or less on the quantity of" excessive gamblers ", split between" pathological gamblers "- the definition of which in the DSM-IV ( diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders) scares- and "moderate risk players". In total they would be 600.000 in France (of the order of 200.000 and 400.000 respectively) all games and chance combined. "
However, games and lotteries of all kinds have been prohibited in France since the 1836 law still in force today.
Extracts from the article "Lotery. State cash machine? " of Edouard ballot journalist and writer and economist by training appeared in Nexus n ° 88.
To note the efforts of the State to fight against these addictions, while making write in very small that the play can cause addictions. This is concrete action!
Julius Caesar would probably admire the scale taken by his maxim except that it is always more games and less and less bread. But we cannot have everything !!!