Nevada Assembly panel endorses state lottery plan

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) – According to the AP,  a Nevada Assembly panel voted to back a plan for a lottery in the nation’s No. 1 gambling state, despite arguments that it would compete with slot machines and other games of chance.

Since the 1970’s about two dozen failed versions of the plan to endorse state lottery in Nevada have been brought forward to win legaslative approval, but it was not until this past Thursday that the Procedures, Ethics and Constitutional Amendments Committee voted 7-3.

“Let the voters decide,” said freshman Assemblyman Paul Aizley, D-Las Vegas, chief sponsor of the measure, which would have to win approval from lawmakers this year and again in 2011 and then go to a public vote.

There are many others who think that this endorsement of the state lottery will hurt businesses especially in this failing economy. Russell Rowe of Boyd Gaming said a lottery would hurt other aspects of Nevada’s gambling industry, adding lotteries have odds that are so high that they amount to what’s been termed “a tax on stupidity.”

Lotteries are operated in all but eight states now, and experts on such games estimate that Americans spent $57 billion on lottery tickets in 2006 alone — with no more than 2 percent of any of the ticket sales going into any state’s coffers. The rest of the money went to pay for prizes and other expenses.