Utah State Representative Kera Birkeland has announced she will reintroduce a measure she sponsored previously and put forth a bill to bring a lottery to the Beehive State.
Let’s take a closer look at her proposal and analyze how it might impact top-rated sportsbooks.
A Lottery Makes Sense
Lotteries are alive and well in all but a handful of states with Utah being one of them. However, if Representative Kera Birkeland has her way, Utah will have its own lottery and participate in multi-state drawings that spur increased interest due to their dizzying jackpots. At long last, Utah will be afforded a lucrative revenue stream that has become commonplace in other states
This will be the second time Birkeland has gone to the well with a lottery proposal after doing so in the last legislative session. She was heartened to gain support in the House but the bill did not go anywhere in the Senate and even Governor Spencer Cox expressed concerns. The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints is an enormous presence in Utah and one that prohibits gambling of any kind.
Utah Lottery Proposal Gains
Despite the roadblock presented by the Senate, Birkeland was pleasantly surprised her proposal gained as much traction as it did, inspiring her to sponsor a similar measure in 2025. An estimated $200 million would be generated by a state lottery in Utah and that money could be used for a variety of purposes like lowering property taxes.
The bill is only a constitutional amendment that would ultimately be put in the hands of the voters to decide. But getting the bill from here to there will be fraught with opposition from the deeply entrenched religious right, a group that is responsible for supporting those elected officials who will have to choose whether to support a lottery or not.
Keeping Lottery Dollars in Utah
Representative Birkeland made a compelling case for her cause, saying, “I think it’s time for adults to be able to make adult decisions and to be able to do it and put the money into the state of Utah. When I talk to my constituents and they cannot afford to stay in their homes, our property taxes are just getting out of control.
“We have revenue that’s being spent by Utahns that could benefit. What moral high ground are we standing on when we say that’s not government’s role?” she added.
Lottery Amendment
Birkeland’s lottery amendment would include only those counties that border states with lotteries so those inside Utah would no longer be forced to cross state lines to buy a lottery ticket and put money in the pockets of their neighbors. Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona are all bordering states with lotteries while Nevada does not. It’s a compromise measure to get some of her colleagues who may be on the fence over to her side.
“There’s still those saying that this is, you know, really going to decay morally our state, and to them, I just hope that this compromise is showing we’re not again, changing behaviors, we’re just capturing those same behaviors within our state limits,” she said.
Birkeland’s lottery amendment bill will be advanced in the 2025 legislative session and should it pass, voters would decide in 2026.
