State Revenues Hurt by Fewer Gamblers
By: RNS Newsroom Solutions
Updated: August 10, 2009
Forty-eight states allow gambling and most have come to depend on revenue from that gaming.
"The Wall Street Journal" reports most of those states are now hurting as casino revenues tumble. Nationwide gaming income to states fell two-point-two-percent in 2008, to five-point-seven-billion dollars after seeing a massive 65-percent increase between 1998 and 2008.
At one point, states were collecting nearly 24-billion dollars a year just in gambling related taxes and lottery income.
The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government in New York says a sampling of 20 state lotteries saw 13 reporting year-over-year declines in revenue for the fiscal year that ended this past June.
Nevada has been especially hard hit with gambling tax revenues off 15-percent for the fiscal year that ended in June. That caused a 10-percent drop in the gambling mecca's overall revenue.
Only Utah and Hawaii are immune to the financial carnage. Neither allows gambling, neither has a state lottery.
Tickets sales are expected to begin next month in Arkansas' newly formed state lottery.
Click here for more Arkansas Lottery news.
"The Wall Street Journal" reports most of those states are now hurting as casino revenues tumble. Nationwide gaming income to states fell two-point-two-percent in 2008, to five-point-seven-billion dollars after seeing a massive 65-percent increase between 1998 and 2008.
At one point, states were collecting nearly 24-billion dollars a year just in gambling related taxes and lottery income.
The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government in New York says a sampling of 20 state lotteries saw 13 reporting year-over-year declines in revenue for the fiscal year that ended this past June.
Nevada has been especially hard hit with gambling tax revenues off 15-percent for the fiscal year that ended in June. That caused a 10-percent drop in the gambling mecca's overall revenue.
Only Utah and Hawaii are immune to the financial carnage. Neither allows gambling, neither has a state lottery.
Tickets sales are expected to begin next month in Arkansas' newly formed state lottery.
Click here for more Arkansas Lottery news.
