Voters made history in dramatic fashion, passing groundbreaking measures to legalize marijuana use and approve same-sex marriage on a day when 174 ballot measures were considered by the electorates of 38 states. That was the most since 2006 when 204 measures were on ballots. In many states, ballots were quite long on Election Day, with voters in Alabama, California and Florida deciding on 11 statewide measures ranging from implementation of the Affordable Care Act to same-sex marriage. Of the 42 citizen initiatives on the ballot, voters approved 17. They rejected 23, and two remain too close to call at press time. In the 2000-2010 decade, voters approved 44.9% of all initiatives on the ballot. Of the 40 that are decided so far, 42.5% have been approved. That's slightly below average and is subject to change as the results on these last two measures firm up.
The AGA has released the 2012 State of the States survey, which provides national and state-by-state economic impact data, such as gaming revenues, tax contributions, and employment and wage figures for the 22 U.S. commercial casino states operating in 2011. A special section of the report showcases a poll of elected officials and civic leaders in gaming jurisdictions.
See also:
previous reports
Will online poker be the revenue boost states are looking for?
]]>Some communities with desperate economic problems may see the legalization of gaming as a risk worth its potential costs because the cost of doing nothing is already high. Other communities may decide it is more important to avoid the cost associated with social pathologies linked to gambling than to take this path to economic development.
]]>Trends in state and local government finance, social welfare spending, and gambling revenues to states are among the topics Rockefeller Institute researchers have explored in recent conference papers and presentations.
- T. Gais, L. Dadayan and S. Bae on social welfare spending
- Donald Boyd on state budgets and health reform
- Donald Boyd on fiscal sustainabillity
- Lucy Dadayan on gambling revenues to the states
- Robert Ward on state budget gaps
For more than two decades, states saw lotteries and casinos as a bonanza of new dollars for education and other programs. Gambling revenue is now at an all-time high, but growth is slowing due to objections about social impacts and broader economic trends. And the report shows that states vary widely in their reliance on gambling revenues.
]]>There are plenty of ways for states to pull more revenue out of their games. All of them face substantial political hurdles.
]]>As part of the May Revision to his 2008-09 Proposed Budget, the Governor proposes to sell $15 billion of bonds that would be repaid with future lottery revenues; $5.1 billion of this amount would be used to help balance the 2008-09 budget, and the remainder would be deposited in a new reserve. The Assembly's budget also assumes the sale of $15 billion of bonds backed by lottery proceeds. The Assembly would use $3.6 billion to pay 2008-09 General Fund obligations and the remainder to pay and prepay outstanding debt. Both proposals assume that lottery revenues can be substantially increased over a relatively short period. This Budget Brief examines the assumptions regarding increased lottery sales, whether the California lottery is underperforming, and policy issues raised by lottery bond proposals.
]]>State revenues slow yet again, and further weakening appears likely: Mid-year budget cuts may lie ahead.
According to a study released Thursday by The Rockefeller Institute of Government, revenue from lottery games accounted for about 8.9 percent of West Virginia's internal state government revenues, topped only by Nevada's 13.4 percent. By comparison, Ohio gambling revenues accounted for 1.9 percent of its own-source revenue. In Kentucky, the number was 1.5 percent.
]]>Foxwoods Resort Casino rises from the hills of rural southeastern Connecticut like a gambler's Oz.
It is one of the country's biggest Indian casinos and it is the largest employer in the state, with 10,000 workers. Of those employees, about 2,600 are dealers of games such as poker and blackjack. And on Nov. 24, 2007, many of these dealers placed a bet on a better life with the United Auto Workers (UAW). ....
It's the first election at an Indian casino to be overseen by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which made a groundbreaking ruling last year that allowed Indian casinos to be unionized. But casino management has appealed the vote, claiming it violates tribal sovereignty.
]]>The AGA presents the 9th annual State of the States: The AGA Survey of Casino Entertainment. Included in the report are details of the national and state-by-state economic impact of commercial casinos, along with data examining the continued growth of the racetrack casino sector. State of the States offers an in-depth look at casino visitation, profiles the American casino gambler, and features polling data indicating the acceptance of casino gaming remains high. The 2007 State of the States survey includes a special section on the Gulf Coast region that features the results of a new poll of opinion leaders from the area about the status of recovery efforts and the outlook for the future, particularly with regard to the region’s gaming industry. It also reports on the poker sector and for the first time, spotlights sports betting, a sector of the industry that has been receiving increased interest.
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