The South Dakota House defeated a bill to increase the amount of video lottery machines in a licensed establishment. Republican State Representative Dick Werner says this bill allows permitted buildings to increase the amount of video lottery machines from the current 10, to 15. Werner says video lottery does a lot for the South Dakota economy and this opens doors for more revenue.
"[Video Lottery], which has been around since 1989 and has generated 2.2 billion dollars in property tax relief. That’s equivalent to almost two fiscal year budgets, in their period of time that they’ve been around," Werner says.
Opponents to House Bill 180 say it promotes gambling. They say gambling ruins the lives of South Dakotans every day and this measure shouldn't be supported. The bill was defeated by the House 44-26.
