Friday, April 19, 2024 | 2 a.m.
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The past few months have been the most exciting time for this city that I have ever witnessed in over 50 years, outside of the 1980 Holmes-Ali fight.
Las Vegas recently hosted the Formula One race and the Super Bowl. These events were inconvenient for locals with road closures and detours, but were good for the community, and casinos broke revenue records.
For many years Las Vegas was shunned, but now is considered the food, entertainment and sports capital of the world. Yet, our schools are ranked near the bottom of Metro areas surveyed.
Economic diversification has been needed for years but why would a company relocate here, given our educational ranking? To lure prospective industries, we need to improve education locally and create vocational schools, which takes funding.
Our tax dollars have been used, to repave the Formula One track and improve roads, off-ramps and other amenities. This benefits resorts, so visitors can easily access gaming establishments, as it should be since gaming is our primary source of tax revenue.
However, Nevada needs a new revenue stream for education, mental health and homelessness. It is time that gaming embrace lottery legislation.
A lottery could be created by the gaming industry and taxed by the state, or created and managed by the state. A third approach is to increase the gaming tax from a quarter-point, which would still be a fraction of what’s paid elsewhere.
Las Vegas can be the No. 1 state in education, if funded by a lottery.
