If it's in the News, it's in our Polls. Public opinion polling since 2003.

BUSINESS

Support for State-Run Lotteries Is Declining

While state lotteries across the country scramble for ways to attract customers, Americans seem to be less enthusiastic about the government-run gambling operations.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 47% of American Adults still believe states should run lotteries to generate revenue. But that’s continuing a downward trend from 56% in October 2009 and 52% in August of last year.

Twenty-seven percent (27%) now oppose state-run lotteries, and another 26% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Forty-six percent (46%) of adults continue to believe it is better for a state to run a lottery than it is for the state to let private companies run them and generate income taxes. Twenty-eight percent (28%) prefer letting private companies operate state lotteries, but 26% are undecided.
 

Thirty-two percent (32%) of Americans now think there are too many competing state lotteries, compared to 27% who felt that way in October 2009. Only 10% think there are not enough lotteries, while 38% say the number of lotteries is about right. 
 

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.  
 

The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on June 13-14, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Want to read more?

Become a Rasmussen Reader to read the article

Have an account?

Log In

Become a Reader

Subscribe

Rasmussen Reports is a media company specializing in the collection, publication and distribution of public opinion information.

We conduct public opinion polls on a variety of topics to inform our audience on events in the news and other topics of interest. To ensure editorial control and independence, we pay for the polls ourselves and generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions, sponsorships, and advertising. Nightly polling on politics, business and lifestyle topics provides the content to update the Rasmussen Reports web site many times each day. If it's in the news, it's in our polls. Additionally, the data drives a daily update newsletter and various media outlets across the country.

Some information, including the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll and commentaries are available for free to the general public. Subscriptions are available for $4.95 a month or 34.95 a year that provide subscribers with exclusive access to more than 20 stories per week on upcoming elections, consumer confidence, and issues that affect us all. For those who are really into the numbers, Platinum Members can review demographic crosstabs and a full history of our data.

To learn more about our methodology, click here.