Hey Kids! Come play the lottery!

Gus the Groundhog is a cute, furry, animated spokes-hog for the Pennsylvania lottery, and he obviously likes gambling. After all, according to a TV ad I saw today, he plays "every day".

Now far be it from me for criticizing anybody for gambling or offering a gambling service. If people want to pay that extra tax for those who don't know math, it's not my problem.

But I seem to recall that Joe Camel was dumped as an advertising spokesman for cigarettes because he was too appealing to kids. This was right around the time that many states were suing the tobacco companies for various reasons including advertising targeted at or appealing to children.

By the same logic that was used to prevent cigarette advertising targeted at children, this Gus the Groundhog character should be banned. The state should be protecting children from such things, not creating them.