Why six US states won't play the Powerball lottery
Lottery players across the United States are madly buying up tickets to participate in the current $1.5 billion Powerball lottery. But not everyone's game for taking the big gamble. Six states ban the lottery entirely.
Residents of聽Nevada, Alaska, Hawaii, Alabama, Mississippi, and Utah can still participate in the lottery, if they are willing to drive across state lines to purchase tickets. And many are making the trek, prompting some observers to question why anti-lottery states are letting revenue from lottery sales go to other states.
For Alabama, Utah, and Mississippi, objections to the lottery are grounded in religious beliefs.
Religious opposition is prevalent in Alabama, but the view on statewide lotteries is not as absolute among legislators.
Some lawmakers maintain that instituting the lottery would in effect be an additional tax on those who can least afford it.
", so the studies show,"聽Senator Arthur Orr told local news station WHNT.
However, other Alabama leaders see Powerball participation as a funding opportunity for their state.听
鈥淭he reality is our state budget is in a hole so big聽,鈥� wrote state Rep. Craig Ford (D) in an op-ed last year. 鈥淭he only solution is more revenue. Before we raise taxes on working families, let鈥檚 look at voluntary revenue streams like the lottery.鈥�
Representative Ford says the people of Alabama should vote on a lottery, and many legislators from both parties agree. But even if legislators don鈥檛 agree on using lottery funds for Medicaid and prisons, the state鈥檚 two biggest expenditures, Ford says Alabama could designate the funds towards a scholarship fund like their neighbor Georgia.听
鈥淲e need to change the current tide, and we have an option to fill that hole in the General Fund budget by bringing a statewide lottery to a vote,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淎 statewide lottery is聽a way to fill in the gaps聽without losing important programs, and it does so in a voluntary way.鈥澛�
State Sen. Jim McClendron, (R) and Rep. Alan Harper (R) announced last week that they plan to co-sponsor a bill that would聽聽on whether or not to create a lottery in the state.听
In Utah, however, any change to lottery laws is less likely, given the fact that most聽state legislators belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
鈥淭he Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is opposed to gambling, including lotteries sponsored by governments,鈥� the church explains on their website. 鈥淕ambling is motivated by a desire to get something for nothing. .鈥澛�
In Mississippi,聽a vocal religious population in Mississippi has kept a statewide lottery at bay, despite an active riverboat gambling industry. Casino owners interested in keeping a corner on the market have joined with religious activists to create a formidable opposition.
The clout of the casino industry has also diminished any possibility of bringing the lottery to Nevada.
鈥淭he casino industry has long opposed a lottery in Nevada,鈥� explains the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 2014. 鈥淭hey say the more money people are spending on lotteries, . The casinos鈥� position on a state lottery has been so unwavering that it鈥檚 entirely unsurprising when a lottery proposal is rejected by the state legislature.鈥澛�
The two non-continental US states, Hawaii and Alaska, also reject the lottery, but their reasonings are more diffuse.
The Alaska Department of Revenue created a report on the potential of a statewide lottery, but legislators determined it wouldn鈥檛 generate enough money to be successful given the states dispersed, small population.听
Hawaii ties with Utah for the most-strict gambling laws in the country, making gambling of any kind illegal. The state鈥檚 opposition is more difficult to identify, but some legislatures have suggested gambling of any kind would hurt .听
But the rest of the 44 states don鈥檛 really mind lottery bans in these six states.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been awesome,鈥� Rachel Crawford, store manager for a Chevron station in Delta, La., told The Clarion-Ledger last week. The gas station has had to hire extra security for long lines of crowds, as central Mississippi residents to buy Powerball tickets.听
This report contains material from the Associated Press.
