The case for accountable lottery regulation in India

Urged to ban tobacco, Napoleon III, Emperor of France (1852-70), replied, “This vice brings in one hundred million francs in taxes every year. I will certainly forbid it at once — as soon as you can name a virtue that brings in as much revenue.” His uncle, Napoleon Bonaparte, is also credited with calling vices “very good patriots” (though the attribution is uncertain), while Ralph Waldo Emerson observed that “tobacco could cheerfully carry the load of armies”. Different voices, one hard-headed insight: vices are fiscally invaluable.

Yet, every age has moral crusaders whose puritanical zeal to ban tobacco, alcohol, or lotteries rests on the misconception — and conceit — that the state can extinguish persistent demand simply by declaring an activity unlawful. Pragmatists know better: a prohibition may be morally appealing yet administratively futile — or, worse, positively counterproductive.