Chances of a Lottery in Las Vegas Are Dead (Again)

By Scott Roeben, on April 14 2025
4 min read 6 comments
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In a town known for gambling, there’s one kind that eludes Las Vegas: The lottery. You know, the kind like Powerball and Mega Millions where jackpots can be in the billions.

While Las Vegas casinos loves gamblers, certain casinos (Station Casinos and Boyd Gaming) hate the thought of someone playing a lottery because it’s considered “competition.” You know, adults doing as they choose with their disposable income.

A recent survey said 84% of Nevadans support the creation of a Nevada State Lottery. Nevada’s elected officials DGAF. A proposal to reverse the state’s prohibition against state lotteries (Assembly Joint Resolution 5, or AJR5) has died. It didn’t even get a hearing by the state’s legislature. Vegas gonna Vegas.

Lotteries are the dance of fate and faith, where optimism springs eternal and dreamers defiantly spit in the face of impossible odds. Each wager is a whispered promise, a simple twist of fate away from dreams becoming reality. Or something.

It’s rare when we are aligned with Culinary Local 226 about anything, but we find ourselves on the same side of the lottery issue.

Culinary is the biggest union in town and has been very public in its push for a lottery.

Culinary’s interest in a lottery would seem far afield of their prime directive as a labor organizer, but they want a lottery because: 1) A lottery could increase tax revenue and the union holds sway over how tax money is spent, 2) the union hates Station Casinos (the company’s casinos are non-union), so they’ll do anything to kick Station in its collective twigs and berries.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day, and that’s the case with Culinary and the lottery.

Fun facts that aren’t really all that fun if you want the lottery but will never have it.

It is patently absurd a couple of powerful casino companies can keep a form of entertainment from millions of people just because they believe it might hurt their businesses. It’s shameful elected officials are so in the pocket of these powerful interests that they won’t even talk about the possibility of a lottery.

The hypocrisy is mind-boggling.

It’s sort of like how prostitution is illegal in Las Vegas, yet is rampant and generates more economic stimulation than many casinos. Heaven forbid sex work be decriminalized! Someone might have sex for money in Las Vegas!

Assembly Joint Resolution 5 actually made it through the Assembly and Senate in 2023, but the casino industry has created so many hurdles, ARJ5 had zero chance of success. We said as much back in March 2025.

In a statement, Culinary called the decision to not hear AJR5 “irresponsible.” We call it utterly predictable, unmitigated horseshit.

Protectionist nonsense like this is embarrassing for everyone involved.

Culinary’s statement says, “When politicians talk about democracy being at risk, but block Nevadans from voting on something as straightforward as a state lottery, their words ring hollow. Actions speak louder than rhetoric.”

Whatever one feels about lotteries, including those who call them a “tax on the poor,” lotteries generate tax revenue and those funds can be used for a lot of different things to benefit citizens.

In this case, funds would presumably go to education and mental health services. Nevada’s track record in these areas is abysmal. Yes, casinos are contributing tax dollars to public coffers, but the Nevada tax rate for casinos is a paltry 6.75%, further evidence of the strangle hold casinos have on elected officials.

Gambling revenue tax rates in other states? Michigan is 19%, Maryland is 20-40% and New York is 30-45%. Sports betting in New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island is taxed at more than 50%.

So, Nevada casinos are getting a huge tax break while derailing the lottery effort which would generate, wait for it, tax revenue.

It’s just gross.

There are only five U.S. states that don’t have the lottery and Nevada is, arguably, the most gambly U.S. state. Oh, yes, we just invented a new adjective, which is why we are so feared by Big Casino.

As if you needed another reason to buy lottery tickets.

Why are we personally miffed about this ongoing madness?

We could really use a billion dollars and we don’t want to have to drive an hour to stand in line at the lottery store in Primm.

The lottery store is just over the state line, so all those tax dollars from Nevadans are going to California.

Shame on our legislators, but they’re just doing what they’re told by Station Casinos and Boyd Gaming. They should probably take care, Culinary is a big voting block. (Many of its members don’t speak English as their first language, so follow lock step with whatever the union communicates in Spanish.)

We’ve spoken to high-ranking officials at Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts and those companies don’t particularly care about the lottery one way or another. They cater mainly to tourists, who can get lottery tickets back home. Station and Boyd serve residents. And residents are children who can’t decide for themselves how they would like to spend their entertainment dollars, obviously.

Caesars and MGM have been mum about the lottery because they aren’t going to get into a squabble with Station and Boyd over this dumbassery.

So, we’re stuck and the desires and needs of common folks plays second fiddle to the political clout of corporate bullies, the will of the people ignored. Again.

We’d boycott Station and Boyd, but we really enjoy their casinos, so we’ve decided to protest by beating them for handpays at every opportunity to express our outrage at this ongoing lottery mishegoss.

Suck it, The Man.