Nevada: Legislative efforts to create a state lottery gain traction despite casino industry opposition

Nevada’s relationship with the lottery could soon change. A proposed constitutional amendment sponsored by Assemblyman Cameron Miller (D-North Las Vegas), AJR5, would repeal the state’s 159-year-old constitutional ban on state lotteries.

Miller said in an interview with The Nevada Independent that revenue generated by a lottery would be directed toward youth mental health programs. AJR5 must pass two successive legislative sessions and then be approved by a simple majority of voters at the next general election before implementation. Miller’s proposal would have to pass the Assembly and Senate this year and in 2025 before voters could weigh in on the ballot question in 2026.

According to the aforementioned source, gaming insiders suggested Nevadans wouldn’t see lottery tickets or scratch-off card sales from a Silver State retailer until 2027 or even 2028, given the amount of time needed to set up and implement rules and regulations on a future Nevada lottery.

Nevada is unique among the five states without a statewide lottery. Hawaii and Utah do not have any forms of legal gambling, while Alabama and Alaska have only tribal casinos. “We have a revenue issue and we need additional revenue sources,” Miller said. “It’s outdated for us not to have this revenue stream.”

Proposals to adopt a Nevada lottery have occasionally come up over the past decades, but have been easily swatted down by the state’s casino industry. But with changing legislative and political dynamics, the industry is now on the defensive as it seeks to defeat the proposal and pour water on the idea that a lottery would be a revenue boon for the state.

Despite the opposition from the state’s casino industry, Miller said he is hopeful the resolution will be successful. He said legislative leaders told him “it was a reasonable time” to introduce the measure. 

Still, gaming industry leaders do not believe a Nevada lottery would provide the revenue stream proponents are touting. “You can't just do your own Nevada version. You have to tie into the national lotteries,” Truckee Gaming CEO Ferenc Szony told The Nevada Independent. “The state really has to figure it out.” 

He suggested a lottery won’t attract business from the tourist market but from state residents. “A large portion of our state’s overall gaming comes from outside Nevada. A lottery is not going to benefit from that business,” Szony added.

Truckee Gaming is a retailer licensed by the California Lottery to sell tickets from a store adjacent to the Gold Ranch Casino & RV Resort in Verdi. The store’s lottery terminals sit on the California side of the state line in Floriston. “It’s a bit of an accounting nightmare for us,” Szony said. 

According to the California Lottery, Gold Ranch is the state’s second-largest seller of lottery tickets during multimillion-dollar jackpot events, trailing only the lottery store in Primm Valley. That outlet, operated by Las Vegas-based Affinity Gaming, is just across the state line from the company’s three Primm casinos. 

Szony considers the lottery store a marketing tool that draws customers to Truckee Gaming’s small Verdi casino, which has 250 slot machines, four food outlets, a gas station and a convenience store. “We’re not making big bucks off the lottery, but it’s something fun and different to have,” he said. 

Still, those in favor of a lottery disagree with Szony's view that a lottery won't bring much revenue. Miller found support from Culinary Workers Local 226, which said in February it was on board with a Nevada lottery that would provide “sustainable funding to youth mental health and education.”

For its part, the Nevada Resort Association, which represents the state’s largest casino operators, said in a statement to The Nevada Independent that “lotteries cannot produce the vast array of meaningful careers found in Nevada’s resort industry.”

The resolution marks the second time in 12 years that Nevada lawmakers have had an opportunity to debate a constitutional change for a state lottery. Efforts in 2011 and 2015 never made it out of committee.