Wyoming would tap lottery money under proposed bill

Jan 19, 2018, 3:01 pm (9 comments)

Wyoming Lottery

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A legislative panel has endorsed a proposal that would allow the state of Wyoming to grab some of the statewide lottery earnings.

The Legislature's Joint Appropriations Committee voted 9-3 Thursday in Cheyenne to sponsor a bill in the upcoming legislative session that would allow the state to take 5 percent of the gross proceeds earned by the Wyoming Lottery.

State coffers would be enriched by about $1 million a year.

WyoLotto started selling tickets in 2014 after the Legislature authorized its creation. Its profits are shared with local cities, towns and counties.

But the state is facing budget deficits from declining mineral revenue and some lawmakers are looking at other potential revenue sources for the state.

Opponents of the idea say it will reduce the money going to municipalities.

AP

Comments

Raven62's avatarRaven62

Oh No! Once one State does it, the others will follow.

lejardin's avatarlejardin

Politicians cant leave anything alone when it comes to money, no surprise.

KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

"would allow the state to take 5 percent of the gross proceeds earned by the Wyoming Lottery.

State coffers would be enriched by about $1 million a year."

 

That's pure genius.

I'm going to put a few $100 bills in my right pocket, and then keep moving them from pocket to pocket. If my arm doesn't get too tired I'll bet I can enrich my coffers by half a million bucks a day.

music*'s avatarmusic*

2018 is an election year. The people will vote and the politicians will have to listen.Rant

ckrakowski

I live in WY. This is not going to go well. Once they realize that they can take money from this they will not stop. Soon enough they will be taking more and more and the 5 percent will be just a memory.  I have already told the representatives that this year is a election year and if they do not start doing things that the citizens want they will find themselves out of a job.

NJJim's avatarNJJim

It's amazing someone can get a person to send them money like that!

ronki

Thank Obama for Killing Coal

noise-gate

With a population of less than 600,000 persons in the State, how the heck can you be running low on funds? Especially with people leaving the State for greener pastures?

CDanaT's avatarCDanaT

Quote: Originally posted by ckrakowski on Jan 19, 2018

I live in WY. This is not going to go well. Once they realize that they can take money from this they will not stop. Soon enough they will be taking more and more and the 5 percent will be just a memory.  I have already told the representatives that this year is a election year and if they do not start doing things that the citizens want they will find themselves out of a job.

It truly is a sad state of affairs when our elected officials CAN'T leave the lottery alone. Unfortunately, this is not a Wyoming issue either. Every now and then we have our few here in Texas that also start wanting to screw with our lottery system as well, but they don't have the measures to offset the revenue it generates for education. I feel for ya Wyoming residents.. stay strong

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