Utah State Rep. Kera Birkeland (R) plans to reintroduce a proposed constitutional modification that may ask Utahns whether or not to legalize a state lottery. However following the failure of final yr’s effort – the proposal was just about useless on arrival – this one comes with a twist. Birkeland is suggesting legalizing a lottery solely in counties that border states that already promote lotto tickets.
Kera Birkeland, above, needs a lottery in Utah – simply not in every single place in Utah. She says Utahns spend $200M a yr on different states’ lotteries. (Picture: Desert Information)
Utah is one in every of simply two states, together with Hawaii, the place all types of playing are unlawful, together with church raffles. The constitutional ban on playing has existed since Utah was granted statehood in 1896. That’s largely all the way down to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members account for simply over half of Utah’s inhabitants and which opposes playing as “spiritually damaging.”
Utahans Spend $200M
However Birkeland is undeterred. She says Utahans spend $200 million a yr on lottery tickets in neighboring states. If this cash have been redirected to Utah, it may imply decrease taxes, she argues.
And by legalizing the lottery in sure border counties solely, she could be stopping Utahans from crossing the border to purchase tickets.
The plan would exclude most of the state’s most populous cities like Salt Lake, Davis, and Weber, in addition to counties on the whole western state line, which borders Nevada. On line casino pursuits in America’s playing capital have lengthy saved a Nevada lottery at bay. All counties that border Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona could be eligible to decide in.
Massive “If”
“There’s nonetheless these saying that that is, you understand, actually going to decay morally our state, and to them, I simply hope that this compromise is displaying once more we’re not altering behaviors, we’re simply capturing those self same behaviors inside our state limits,” Birkeland stated.
Birkeland will file the proposed modification on the 2025 session of the Utah State Legislature. If it passes – and that’s a giant “if” — voters would get to determine the difficulty in November 2026.
