Volume 10, No.6 - Jan 2002

Year of the member

Lotto and Casino rob the poor

 
Is the national lottery just a bit of harmless fun, a chance to dream of untold riches? Are casinos no more than a nice place to spend an evening and a little money in the hope you might be the lucky winner of the jackpot? The COSATU Special Central Executive Committee (CEC) does not think so. At its meeting on 7 December 2001 the CEC passed the following resolution about some of the negative features of gambling and the lottery.
 
The CEC noted:
  1. The devastating impact of gambling, including the lottery, on the poor.  The lottery functions as a regressive tax, since poor people pay a larger share of their incomes than rich people on gambling.
  2. Government has sponsored gambling both directly and indirectly in order to raise money, both through the licensing of large numbers of casinos and through the lottery.
  3. This approach preys on the desperation of our people, who are faced with grinding poverty rooted in soaring unemployment and low wages. It leads individuals to think they can only change their lives through luck, rather than helping us collectively solve the challenges we face – and in the process, gambling can destroy people and their families.
  4. According to research commissioned by Business Day, people spend about R2 billion a year on the lottery. About half of adults in the urban areas buy lotto tickets. Some 40% earn between R800 and R4000 a month, and 11% earn under R800 a month. Some of them admit that they cut spending on necessities like food and clothing in order to play the lotto. Moreover, some lotto players are clearly addicted to gambling: most of the biggest players, who spend over R625 a month on the lotto, are     single African men, mostly earning under R4000 a month. (Business Day, 26 January 2001)
  5. The poor pay for the lottery, but reap few of its benefits. As of 30 September 2001 government had apparently spent only about a tenth of the total of R700 million accumulated in profits. Of that, R20 million went to sporting groups – including the Blue Bulls and Swimming South Africa – and a further R10 million to arts groups, with the Western Cape Opera alone getting R1 million. Charity groups, in contrast, got R45 million. In short, it seems that the lottery is being used to fund predominantly white-oriented groups that can no longer benefit from government funds directly.
  6. The Business Day survey shows that 7% of South Africans go regularly to the casino. The Minister for Social Welfare argues that among them are some of the poorest South Africans, including pensioners, who simply cannot afford both to gamble and to meet their basic needs. Casinos support at most 20 000 permanent jobs.
  7. Gambling has a long history in our country. The working class communities have always had all manner of gambling schemes as they try to survive the hard realities of a capitalist system brutality. These include such issues as horse racing, “umchina” schemes, etc.  In the context of 25% unemployment rate, which rises to a staggering 38% if workers who have become discouraged from looking for work are included, many working-class families believe that gambling is their salvation. Abject poverty and desperation drives many poor communities to gambling.  
  8. A number of COSATU union’s investment companies have invested in Uthingo and a few unsuccessfully bid for casino licenses.  
  9. The Education programmes of the Uthingo (Lotto company) have simply been too mild to make a difference. 
The CEC therefore resolves to:
  1. Call on the government urgently to establish a commission to research the impact of gambling on income distribution, poverty, addictive gambling and social cohesion, and to propose solutions.
  2. Establish the exact nature and extent of COSATU union’s investment company’s involvement in gambling business and lotto. 
  3. Unionise the 20 000 workers employed in the gambling industry. To workers who are faced with the grinding poverty any form of a legal employment is welcome. 
  4. Launch an internal and public debate on the whole question of gambling and lotto. Part of the debate should be whether it is morally correct for unions' investment companies to invest in gambling and the lotto. The view of the CEC is that it is morally incorrect to invest in gambling and lotto. The first Executive Committee scheduled for February 2002 to receive a comprehensive report of all the activities     of the union’s investment companies. 
  5. Educate members of COSATU and the working-class about the social impact of gambling in particular on the morale fibre and ethics of our society. 
  6. Condemn the racially skewed manner in which the limited benefits accruing from lotto have been distributed.