Last Thursday Stateline.org, a nonprofit, nonpartisan online news site that practices journalism in the public interest by reporting on emerging trends and issues in state policy and politics, published an article showing that the present economic downturn is changing state legislators’ attitudes to the question of gambling. Apart from Hawaii and Utah, every US state has some form of legal gambling.

Pamela M. Prah, Stateline.org Staff Writer, writes that besides Atlantic City and Delaware politicians aiming to legalise sports betting, other states are considering gambling expansion in some form. A proposal in Illinois would allow lottery tickets to be sold online. Iowa considered privatising its lottery and introduced new lottery games. Kentucky is looking at allowing slots at its famous horse tracks. Ohio is contemplating allowing four casinos and VLTs at seven racetracks.

In California next week voters will decide whether the state can borrow US$5 billion against future lottery proceeds and Pennsylvania may expand gambling to include table games at its slots parlours. Maine has approved an extension of gambling hours to include Sunday morning. Georgia thinks casino gambling at a downtown shopping mall could increase state revenues. Even Texas legislators have a range of gambling proposals.

As Pamela Prah states, “State-sanctioned gambling, in general, is not without controversy… But the worsening state revenue situation is giving even the most ardent gambling opponents second thoughts.” Even when new gambling measures are not approved, as in Wyoming and Hawaii, legislators nowadays are less likely to dismiss them out of hand. Budget cuts and state deficits abound throughout much of the US, so adding or increasing gambling tax revenue begins to seem an increasingly good bet.
(E-05.13.09)

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