How has the Wyoming Lottery impacted on Utah?

[barryqwalsh]

The Wyoming lottery was expected to draw Utahns to border towns to buy tickets.

In the past, people along the Wasatch Front have rushed to Idaho to buy their tickets but has that changed?

 

[barryqwalsh]

Do you live in Utah?

Do you travel to neighboring states to play?

 

[barryqwalsh]

Utahns buy 19% of Idaho's lottery tickets


That's according to a Salt Lake Tribune analysis of Idaho Lottery Commission sales data for 2011, obtained through an open-records request.

It shows that 19.4 percent of Idaho's revenue from traditional lottery drawings comes from sales sites on the Utah border. And owners of such stores credit the Beehive State for the overwhelming majority of those sales — "99 percent" of them, said Alexis Daniels, manager of the Top Stop Chevron in the border city of Malad.

That appropriately named Top Stop is Idaho's No. 1 lottery outlet. By itself, that gasoline station and convenience store sells 3 percent of all the Gem State's tickets for traditional lotteries.

The No. 2 sales site is across the street at the Kwik Stop in Malad. In fact, the top five Idaho Lottery outlets are all on the Utah border, either in Malad, Franklin or Fish Haven. The No. 10 site for traditional lottery drawings is not far away, in Downey.

Malad (population 2,130) even sold more lottery products in 2011 than any city in Idaho, except the capital of Boise (more than 205,000). Malad sold nearly $5,000 in lottery products per resident that year.

"I'd just like to say thank you," Daniels said, "to all the people from Utah who come up to buy tickets."

So would David Workman, spokesman for the Idaho Lottery Commission. He said Idaho knows that Utahns contribute "significantly to Idaho public schools and the state of Idaho's permanent buildings, which are our beneficiaries."

 

[barryqwalsh]

Utahns can play a state lottery, but not a Utah lottery. you can play the Massachusetts Lottery's Megabucks Doubler. I subscribe from the comfort of my phone. They charge a few dollars to send tickets by UPS.

It's a bit of fun, and I'm helping young Americans, even if it is in another state.

 

[barryqwalsh]

“Oh yeah,” she said, ringing up another customer. “We see them come in from Wyoming, Vernal, Roosevelt, Duchesne even as far away as Salt Lake City.”

Lottery tickets aren't sold in Utah. So for the lure of a big money prize, Utahns who want to play the odds have to do a bit of driving.

And situated right across the state line, stores in Dinosaur are reaping the benefits. Wednesday afternoon parking lots at the Gateway Conoco, Christie's Liquor and the Loaf and Jug were choked with vehicles with Utah license plates.

Powerball jackpot lures Utahns across border

 

[barryqwalsh]

1,000,000 People in favor of a State Lottery in Utah


To enact a lottery in Utah, would take an amendment to the Utah Constitution. This can be done Via the legislatively-referred constitutional amendment process:
1. An amendment can be proposed in either chamber of the Utah State Legislature.
2. A two-thirds vote is necessary in the state legislature to place a proposed amendment before the state's voters.
3. Votes on proposed amendments must take place at general elections.
Would you be willing to contact your legislators to let them know you're in favor of a lottery? If we don't tell them, then they assume the status quo, which is that the majority of Utahn's oppose such a proposition. We have to let them know that times have changed and so have the desires of the electorate to have a lottery!

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