Bart Hinkle: States trying to protect their gaming monopolies

Gambling in Virginia is a case study in the bootleggers-and-Baptists phenomenon — literally. The Virginia Assembly of Independent Baptists has fought Lucas’ casino bills in the past, as has the Family Foundation of Virginia.

The unholy alliance between self-seeking interests from out of state and Puritanical busybodies from in-state has kept casinos from invading the Old Dominion. Anti-gambling sentiment also helped shut down the Internet wagering cafes that popped up around the state a few years ago before the General Assembly decreed them verboten.

But Virginia still allows pari-mutuel betting on horse races — horse-racing is a noble tradition, suh — as well as off-track betting, even though its sole track, Colonial Downs, has suffered a series of setbacks and is now in intensive care, where prospects are looking grim.

With no casinos, no riverboat gambling, and no horse-racing in the immediate future, Virginians who want to wager are left with few options outside the state Lottery. Like New York’s, it offers a wide array of gambling options, but the odds are heavily stacked in the house’s favor.

The state enjoyed sales of $1.8 billion last year — and kept 29 percent of the money wagered. That’s considerably higher than the typical “hold percentage” in a Las Vegas casino. And yet even though the Virginia Lottery website has a page warning about scams, it also has a page that will generate “lucky numbers” for you. (The text says “it’s totally random and just for fun.”) Guess which of those two page’s links are bigger.