A series of recent structural changes, including the legalization of sports betting and expansion of commercial casinos, have provided a stern challenge to the relative autonomy state lotteries once held over the gambling landscape in the United States. Despite this, lotteries continue to play an essential, albeit often misunderstood, role in public finance. This paper replicates previous (1999,, 2007, 2009, 2011) Gaming Law Review and Economics research efforts to examine the relationship between state lotteries, commercial gaming and public finance. The paper concludes with a series of policy recommendations which can be generalized to the majority of jurisdictions currently operating state lotteries
