Neva­da law­mak­ers taunt casi­no indus­try with push to aban­don 159-year ban on statewide lot­ter­ies

Despite being known for its gam­ing indus­try and casi­nos, Neva­da is one of five states with­out a statewide lot­tery. That’s by design. 
A statewide lot­tery is banned in Nevada’s 159-year-old con­sti­tu­tion. The con­sti­tu­tion was writ­ten when lot­ter­ies were seen as cor­rupt and coin­cid­ed with a series of nation­al reforms, most famous­ly abo­li­tion, that swept the Unit­ed States in the 1800s.
“By the ear­ly 19th cen­tu­ry, most lot­ter­ies were crooked. These lot­ter­ies were either not giv­ing the prize, or being fixed,” Michael Green, a his­to­ry pro­fes­sor at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Neva­da, Las Vegas who …