{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-sen-rand-paul-highlights-30000-nsf-study-ugandan-sports-gambling-latest-edition-waste-report/", "Sen. Rand Paul Highlights $30,000 NSF Study on Ugandan Sports Gambling in Latest Edition of \u2018The Waste Report\u2019", "2016-02-16", "2016", "2016-02", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Rand Paul", "P000603", "www.paul.senate.gov", "paul", "https://www.paul.senate.gov/news/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Rand Paul today released latest edition of \u2018The Waste Report,\u2019 which is an ongoing project cataloguing egregious examples of waste within the U.S. government. The latest edition highlights a $30,000 study, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), that researched the prevalence of entrepreneurs, in the country of Uganda, seeking to generate revenue for their business through sports betting.\n\n\u2018The Waste Report\u2019 can be found HERE or below.\n\nEvery year, it is estimated that sports betting generates as much as a $1 trillion in revenue worldwide.[1] Maybe you have even put a few dollars down on a game yourself, but even if that is not the case, the federal government is using $30,000 of your taxes to bet on a study of Ugandan gambling practices.[2]\n\nThe study, being conducted out of the University of California-Berkeley and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), is part of a doctoral dissertation \u2013 a student\u2019s research \u2013 aimed at exploring the prevalent practice among Ugandan entrepreneurs seeking business capital through sports betting.\n\nIt is hard to see what benefit the U.S. taxpayer gets out of funding research on Ugandan gambling, but the study, and NSF\u2019s funding of it, seems all the more ridiculous when we consider why small business owners are betting in the first place.February 16/ RADCLIFF TOWN HALL\n\ning lgng practices. ing in oundation (NSF) e Begley of WANV, Brian O\u2019\n\nEarlier research found that nearly half of men in the \u201cinformal\u201d sector participate in sports betting, which is legal in Uganda,[3] and this study seeks to build on that by exploring the effects gambling has on business. Of course, \u201cinformal sector\u201d is a nice way to say black market.\n\nIn fact, nearly 60 percent of the entire Ugandan non-farm workforce is employed in the black market.[4] Given that banks are generally hesitant to make loans to unlicensed businesses, it should not be a surprise to anyone that these entrepreneurs are seeking financing through non-traditional means.\n\nMore than that, black markets are a natural outgrowth of excessive government manipulation of the economy, [5] which makes operating outside the law preferable. With such a large a black market in Uganda, it should be obvious that the government is having a larger negative impact on business and families than gambling. Perhaps the better area to look into is what specific government policies are driving so many Ugandan business underground.\n\nIn any case, this should be the concern of the people and government of Uganda, not the U.S. taxpayer.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T20:44:24Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-sen-rand-paul-highlights-30000-nsf-study-ugandan-sports-gambling-latest-edition-waste-report/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.143303932622075, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}