A recent joint resolution in Nevada, AJR5, would create an amendment to allow a statewide lottery in the Silver State. The amendment would need to be ratified by voters at the ballot box to become law.
Long Shot Lottery
Many people find it ironic that Nevada, home of Las Vegas and statewide casino gambling, is one of five states without a lottery. However, the rationale makes sense when considering that the casinos that fuel the state’s economic engine and whose owners have invested hundreds of billions in their combined properties should have as little competition as possible.
Thus, it is easy to see why a lottery has never been established and the state’s 159-year-old prohibition against a state lottery remains intact. Yet, it is not for a lack of trying, as more than two dozen attempts have been made since 1887 to bring legislation that would dispense with that prohibition and amend the state constitution to allow the voters to decide.
The most recent effort comes in the form of AJR5, whose primary sponsor, Assemblyman Cameron (C.H.) Miller did not seek reelection in 2024. In Nevada, a proposed constitutional amendment needs a second hearing, and, in this case, AJR5 had passed both chambers in 2023, which means it advanced for the required second go-round during the 2025 legislative session.
However, the state’s gaming industry’s lobbying group, the Nevada Resort Association, immediately went to work after realizing how far the lottery amendment advanced in the legislature two years ago. The organization has been active in supporting candidates who are anti-lottery proponents, and the pressure is on to keep this bill in the Assembly’s Legislative Operations and Elections Committee, where it could die should the committee members decide against giving it a hearing.
Speaking Out
Yet, should the bill advance out of committee, then a second vote (the first coming in 2023) in both chambers could yield similar results, meaning the measure would pass and the voters would get to decide. This is something that the casino industry operators are virulently opposed to and have made their opinions widely known.
Nevada Resort Association lobbyist Nick Vassiliadis said in an interview regarding a state lottery, “To say that a statewide lottery is going to net a couple of $100 million a year in revenue is somewhat unfounded.”
“You need to get down into the weeds in terms of what type of lottery you plan on running. That discussion never took place,” he added.
Vassiliadis argued that Nevada is the only one of the five states without a lottery whose casino industry generated $15.5 billion in revenue in 2023. Hawaii and Utah have no gambling industry, while Alabama and Alaska have only tribal and no commercial casinos.
“We’ve had a little more lead time than we did in the last session, and we used [the year-and-a-half] as an opportunity to answer specific questions from legislators,” Vassiliadis said. “We want to have a policy discussion on a lottery. That was one of our frustrations from the last session.”
Red Rock Resorts Senior Vice President of Government Relations Michael Britt wrote to the legislature in 2023 that a lottery would be a direct competitor of the casino industry and “goes against seven decades of proven sound public policy.”
