The South Dakota Lottery is owned and managed by the State of South Dakota. The State of South Dakota is known for its conservative culture, economic philosophy, and voting history. Therefore, there should be no surprise to anyone located outside of South Dakota that the revenues from the lottery were going to be used based on the conservative principles of lower taxes and more access.

As for the principle of lower taxes, South Dakota uses revenue from the South Dakota Lottery to fund the Property Tax Reduction Fund. In the 2011 fiscal year, this amount was over $94.3 million and represents 88.1% of total distributed revenue. This fund is a fund that allows home owning residents and agricultural business participants to reduce their tax burdens by 30% year after year. This is a quite different use of lottery revenue than some other major lottery states. For example, in Georgia, fund revenue is used for educational scholarships and grants and in New Jersey, a portion of all lottery revenue is transferred into the state’s General Fund. While these both are a good use of the lottery revenue to benefit citizens, both still amount to what may be perceived as progressive spending.

As for the principle of more access, the State of South Dakota, its’ citizens, and the South Dakota Lottery fought the Supreme Court and other opposition to institute a video lottery. Two years after the enactment of the South Dakota Lottery measure passed and extensive research and studying of a video lottery occurred, legislation backed by the lottery commission to institute a video lottery was passed. It wasn’t long before a challenge against the law went all the way to the state Supreme Court and won. Lawmakers moved to have an amendment added to the state’s Constitution and became legally binding after a couple of more legislative repeal challenges failed. As a result of changing the constitution that day (another republican move), the South Dakota Lottery now earns over $500 million annually. In fact, the amount of video lottery revenue the South Dakota Lottery earns is 10x times more than the lotto (Powerball, Mega Millions etc.) and the instant ticket revenues combined.

In summary, by adopting these two principles for the use of lottery revenue, the South Dakota Lottery has not only helped its’ fellow state citizens through more access to winnings, but by directly saving them money year after year in property taxes. In short, this is one republican state doing things their way!