There may be other approaches. A little searching reveals that six states don’t have lotteries. And they have different reasons.
Alabama, Mississippi, and Utah have long resisted due to religious objections. Spreading the Gospel may not be an approach we approve of, but it proves that cultures can develop immunity to certain common human failures. There have historically been successful efforts to shift culture via media and education. Designated drivers are a notable example. Perhaps something similar could work.
Surprisingly, Nevada is one of the six, despite rampant legalized gambling. There’s not enough cultural objection here. What there is, instead, is a big casino lobby that doesn’t like competition. A well-funded, well-organized lobby can overrule an unorganized majority. The Prohibition is a notable example. A constitutional amendment would do the job, but we probably wouldn’t need to go that far.
The last two are Alaska and Hawaii. The reason for this is that they don’t border other states. You see, the other Bible Belt states also resisted lotteries for a time, but when your citizens can just cross the border to a neighbor to get their tickets, then a very compelling argument arises in the state legislature: “If they’re doing it anyway, shouldn’t we get the tax money?”. This caused a kind of domino effect and state lotteries proliferated. It also means that focusing on one state at a time is probably not going to work. I’m not sure how else this insight helps us.
There may be other approaches. A little searching reveals that six states don’t have lotteries. And they have different reasons.
Alabama, Mississippi, and Utah have long resisted due to religious objections. Spreading the Gospel may not be an approach we approve of, but it proves that cultures can develop immunity to certain common human failures. There have historically been successful efforts to shift culture via media and education. Designated drivers are a notable example. Perhaps something similar could work.
Surprisingly, Nevada is one of the six, despite rampant legalized gambling. There’s not enough cultural objection here. What there is, instead, is a big casino lobby that doesn’t like competition. A well-funded, well-organized lobby can overrule an unorganized majority. The Prohibition is a notable example. A constitutional amendment would do the job, but we probably wouldn’t need to go that far.
The last two are Alaska and Hawaii. The reason for this is that they don’t border other states. You see, the other Bible Belt states also resisted lotteries for a time, but when your citizens can just cross the border to a neighbor to get their tickets, then a very compelling argument arises in the state legislature: “If they’re doing it anyway, shouldn’t we get the tax money?”. This caused a kind of domino effect and state lotteries proliferated. It also means that focusing on one state at a time is probably not going to work. I’m not sure how else this insight helps us.