South Dakota video lottery gets strong support

RAPID CITY, South Dakota – As reported by the Rapid City Journal: "In three previous elections, South Dakota voters have been asked whether video lottery should be legal. Each time the answer was yes. This time, the answer was the same - by the strongest margin yet.

"With 795 of 818 precincts reporting, Initiated Measure 7 to repeal video lottery lost by a healthy margin: 67 percent were against the measure and 33 percent were in favor.

"In 1992, 63 percent of voters chose to keep video lottery. Two years later, the vote was 52.8 percent. In 2000, 53.7 percent of voters supported video lottery.

"…Dan Brendtro of Forward South Dakota, the group that led the fight to repeal video lottery, said Tuesday night that the measure was doomed to fail without the support of top government officials.

"…Larry Mann, who campaigned on behalf of the video lottery industry, said Tuesday night that he believes that voters understood the need for the video lottery tax revenue…"