Oregon May Continue To Cut Lottery Gambling Host Profits

The state of Oregon does not know how to handle the decrease in gambling at locations where video gambling is permitted. The Oregon Lottery Commission will soon vote on one proposal that has been offered up.

Stand for Children believes that the retailers are making too much revenue from the machines. They want the share given to bar and tavern owners who offer the machines to drop from around twenty-four cents per dollar, to sixteen cents per dollar.

"The lottery was created to maximize benefits for schools and other public purposes, not to subsidize bars and taverns," said Holly Pruett, Executive Director of Stand for Children, as reported by The Associated Press.

The problem for the Lottery Commission is that they have already tapped into the money made by the bars and taverns before. originally, when the video gambling machines were legalized back in 1992, retailers were receiving thirty-five cents for every dollar wagered.

There are currently over 2,300 retailers in the state of Oregon. Those retailers have over 12,000 video gambling machines in their establishments. That amounted in the fiscal year ending in June to $787 million, a significant drop from the almost $900 million from the year before.

The economy over the past year has something to do with the drop in revenue, but the Commission will still vote on Friday whether or not to lower the amount per dollar that the retailers are currently receiving.

October 28, 2009
Posted By April Gardner
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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