Gambling

The phrase unintended consequences of good intentions are often used to illustrate surprise results of some program but there are times when the negative results can be predicted. Case in point. Brazil legalized gambling in 2017. Brazil is a country where the wealth gap is far worse than in the USA. So, what happened. Large companies sprung up and started pushing Internet gambling. They next hired well known movie star types to promote the gambling. They paid these super stars, people in the US like Kim Kardsahian, huge salaries and then offered them a part of the earnings as a bonus. Poor people by the millions were influenced by these stars and started spending their minimal resources on gambling. Gambling is growing at 12% per year while the GDP is growing at 3%.