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SALT LAKE CITY — State Rep. Kera Birkeland is doubling down on a proposal to legalize the lottery in Utah as she introduced a proposed change to the state's constitutional ban on gambling.
HJR24 — which was made public by the Morgan Republican on Friday — would allow the Utah Legislature to authorize a state-run lottery, but would first need buy-in from two-thirds of both the House and Senate and popular support from the voters this November. Birkeland has previously said she would like to use revenue from taxes on the lottery to offset property taxes for older Utahns on fixed incomes.
Proposals to legalize various forms of gambling are common on Utah's Capitol Hill, but they invariably come up snake eyes given that the state's prevailing faith — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — is opposed to all forms of gambling.
Birkeland told KSL.com in December she was all-in with optimism about her novel approach to tying a lottery to tax relief, but other state leaders don't seem so sure.
"Well, it'll save me some money going to Evanston (Wyoming) to buy lottery tickets," House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, told reporters when asked about the resolution on Friday. But Schultz added that he hasn't had conversations with the caucus to measure support for the proposal.
Senate leaders folded on the proposal as well, with Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, saying the odds of the resolution clearing the Senate are "not very high."
"I'd bet quite a bit of money in Vegas that it wouldn't pass," said Senate Majority Leader Evan Vickers, R-Cedar City.
And although Gov. Spencer Cox joked about Utahns driving to Idaho to play the lottery during his State of the State address last month, the governor implied that the deck is stacked against passing a lottery in Utah during a news conference in December, calling lotteries and gambling "taxes on people who are bad at math."
