LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Nevadans who like to play the lottery have to travel out of state to purchase tickets, but a new proposal could give them a break and add a funding mechanism that would benefit kids.
With lotteries outlawed here, folks need to travel to places like California or Arizona to buy state lottery, Mega Millions or Powerball tickets.
For Ben Snyman of Las Vegas, a regular lotto player, that means long drives to Primm when he wants to partake.
He says it's frustrating that Nevada doesn't offer a lottery.
"I've been stuck on (Interstate 15) sometimes for over an hour," Snyman said. "It's just such a drive. A lot of people drive together; I drive with my friend. We take turns because fuel is expensive."
The prohibition on lotteries in Nevada goes back many years.
When Nevada became a state in 1864, the state's constitution included language that specifically outlawed lottery tickets from being sold. That provision stands today.
Over the decades, numerous efforts have surfaced to repeal the ban, but those attempts often ran into a buzzsaw — Nevada's powerful casino gaming industry.
The latest proposal was introduced earlier this week by Nevada Assemblyman Cameron "C.H." Miller, D-North Las Vegas.
Democrats would like to funnel funds from a potential state lottery to help combat youth mental issues, and they have a significant ally on board for the fight — the influential Culinary Workers Union Local 226.
"We have 60,000 members and 60,000 families," said union leader Ted Pappageorge during a recent interview with Channel 13. "We're tired of our kids being last in schools, last in education, last in healthcare and last in mental health. We're just not going to stand for it. There's no reason why we can't (have a lottery) here in Nevada. Lotteries are all over the country."
Miller said it's imperative that the state come up with "creative ways" to fund efforts to take the mental health challenges here head-on.
"We have a huge mental health crisis, and particularly with our youth," Miller said.
Could this effort succeed after so many like it have failed in Nevada over the years?
A spokesman for MGM Resorts International declined to comment for this story, but the Nevada Resort Association did offer a statement.
In it, the association said, "any effort to amend Nevada's constitution should be well understood and carefully vetted..."
The association also said it looks forward to "being included in the discussion."
At The Lotto Store, a popular lottery retailer just across the California/Nevada state line along the I-15, a spokesman told Channel 13 that as many as 200,000 tickets can be sold at that shop during a busy day.
In California, lotto proceeds go to help fund education. According to state records, San Bernardino County alone has pulled in more than $2 billion from lotto proceeds since 1985.
"The first step is to remove the prohibition and then give Nevadans the opportunity, once and for all, to say whether they want a lottery in their state," Miller said.
Don't expect to make plans to buy Nevada lottery tickets soon, however.
Any bill to amend the Nevada constitution would need to pass back-to-back state legislative sessions. It would then, theoretically, go to the state's voters.
The earliest that would happen would be 2026.
