After her initial proposal failed to gain traction on Utah’s Capitol Hill, State Representative Kera Birkeland confirmed her plans to reintroduce a constitutional amendment in 2025 to legalize a state lottery.

If approved, the amendment would appear on the 2026 general election ballot.

Utah and Hawaii are the only two states that ban gambling. Governor Spencer Cox argues that lotteries and gambling in general "do more harm than good.” The proposal also faces opposition from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

SBirkeland contests that the amendment would not change gambling behavior. Rather, the $200 million Utahns are spending on lottery tickets in neighboring states would benefit Utah.

"There’s still those saying that this is, you know, really going to decay morally our state and to them I just hope that this compromise is showing we’re not again, changing behaviors, we’re just capturing those same behaviors within our state limits,” she told FOX 13 News.

Her revised plan suggests a compromise, allowing lottery sales only in counties bordering states with legal lotteries, such as Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, Colorado and Wyoming. This approach excludes counties adjacent to Nevada, where lotteries are banned.

"What I’m proposing this year is that any county that borders a state with the lottery can open up and have the lottery in that county,” Birkeland told FOX 13 News, "so that you don’t have people in the heart of Salt Lake City or wherever else, just walking down the street to a convenience store, buying a lottery ticket. It still creates a little bit of a work to get there.”

https://cdcgaming.com/utah-lawmaker-to-continue-push-for-a-state-lottery-next-year/