A state lottery? No thanks!

By proposing a state lottery, Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, and many of his fellow Democrats are telling us that they want to resolve the state's budget crisis on the backs of the poor and the elderly. Frankly, I think that's a terrible idea.

Perkins, the Legislature's most prominent double-dipper, has already announced a run for governor in 2006. In his mini-State of the State address to open this year's legislative session, Perkins launched his controversial lottery proposal, which is just what we need around here - more gambling.

As most Nevadans already know, lotteries are the worst of the sucker bets and the odds against hitting the Big One are astronomical, many millions to one. Nevertheless, lottery addicts throughout the nation continue to line up to spend their weekly grocery money on a pie-in-the-sky proposition. And the worst of it is that those least able to afford such long-shot bets are the most likely to place them.

As veteran Nevada political reporter Dennis Myers noted recently in the Reno News & Review, "When Nevada was created, the idea of a lottery was in such poor odor that the state's founding fathers wrote a (lottery) prohibition into the state constitution." Myers added that "lotteries are generally regarded as one of the most regressive ways of raising money for government - that is, they hit the poor more than the rich."

He's right and I find it ironic that the party that prides itself on defending the poor and the downtrodden wants to soak them in order to balance the state budget.

The final report of President Clinton's National Gambling Impact Study Commission concluded that lottery players with annual incomes under $10,000 spent almost three times as much money on lotteries than those with incomes over $50,000. And a pro-business group, the Washington-based Tax Foundation, asserted that "state-run lotteries make state tax systems more regressive, less transparent and less economically neutral. Legislators seeking to increase tax revenue would do well to consider other sources."

That's why Perkins and his Democratic friends should look elsewhere for the additional tax revenue needed to fund education - including the Millennium Scholarships - and balance the state's budget. For starters, they should team up with Gov. Kenny Guinn to put the $300 million motor vehicle tax surplus back into the state's general fund instead of refunding it to registered car owners. I think that's a sacrifice most of us would be willing to make in order to adequately fund education and other basic services. Or are we selfish enough to put ourselves ahead of Nevada's schoolchildren? You tell me.

Last Tuesday, state Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, Perkins' main rival for the 2006 Democratic gubernatorial nomination, escalated the lottery battle by asking gaming control agencies to permit Nevadans to participate in the nationwide Powerball Lottery. Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander promised to look into the matter to determine if Powerball is a lottery. Duh! And besides, the Gaming Commission and Control Board already have more important issues on their agenda.

Among the issues gaming control officials stubbornly refuse to address is the question of continuing to allow Nevada gaming licensees to operate Indian casinos that compete directly with hard-pressed Northern Nevada casinos. Exhibit A is Station Casinos of Las Vegas, which operates the thriving Thunder Canyon tribal casino just off Interstate 80 east of Sacramento. Due to stiff competition from Indian casinos, Washoe County recently granted huge property tax assessment reductions to the Siena Hotel-Casino and Fitzgeralds, among others, which will cost the county millions of dollars in tax revenue.

Is that action in the "best interests of the people of the state of Nevada," as required by the Gaming Commission? I don't think so. But will the state Legislature and gaming control agencies ever confront this thorny issue? Probably not because when it comes to Nevada politics, casino money rules.

Even though the Gaming Commission requires its licensees to operate under strict policing standards, Indian casinos are subject to minimal federal and tribal controls that fall far short of Nevada standards. In December 2002 Time magazine reported that the National Indian Gaming Commission had only 63 employees to monitor more than 300 (now 400) tribal casinos throughout the nation. And just last week, the National Indian Gaming Association announced that their virtually unregulated tribal casinos raked in nearly $20 billion last year, a10 percent increase over 2003. Nice work if you can get it.

If Nevada ever decides to approve a state lottery, it will require a huge new bureaucracy to regulate it. As a former Gaming Control Board staffer, I think such a bureaucracy would cost taxpayers far more than it would be worth. So let's force our elected officials to get serious about the budget deficit this year by saying NO to a state lottery.

Gov. Guinn has just appointed a Las Vegas casino executive to the Gaming Control Board. Apparently, this is what passes for "gaming control" these days. How sad!

Guy W. Farmer, of Carson City, worked for the state gaming control agencies in the mid-1960s. He writes frequently about legal gambling issues.