Stand up to the gambling lobby – Billings Gazette

According to a May 14 Gazette article, a Las Vegas company, Golden Entertainment, has moved into western Montana and reported, about $15 million in revenue for the first quarter in its newly acquired Montana operations. Its Montanas second-largest producer of gaming (gambling) machines. It reported a $692,000 profit for the quarter in Montana. Remember, the tax rate on gambling machine revenue is only 15 percent. Thats right only 15 cents on the dollar!

During our recent legislative session, the Legislature tried to raise taxes on beer and tobacco and raid the coal tax trust fund to balance the budget, but no one mentioned increasing the tax on gambling revenue. Are they all afraid of the gambling lobby?

It is way past time to increase the tax from 15 percent to 25 percent, and we have two years to prepare for a vote. With 25 percent tax on gambling machine revenues the state could not only fix all of its dilapidated infrastructure, it would have enough cash left to bore a tunnel through Homestake Pass!

The old 15 percent tax is out of date. Are we all a bunch of wimps who are afraid of the gambling lobby? We can change this. Lets get a move on.

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Stand up to the gambling lobby - Billings Gazette