Lottery revenues have risen more than 800 percent since 1982. Today every state, except for Hawaii and Utah, allow some form of gambling. Some towns like the mountain communities of Black Hawk and Cripple Creek, Colorado, have been totally transformed into gambling establishments. In the Midwest and South, six states have initiated river boat gambling casinos, playing on the romantic image of the boats which used to ply the Mississippi. But these boats are as likely to stay at the dock as not.
Gamblers don t seem to care.
Towns and states justified the floating casinos as a way to increase government revenues and promote riverfront development. Gambling on Indian reservations like this makes up the fastest growing sector of gambling across the nation. A total of 220 tribal gambling operations, allowed because sovereign Indian nations do not fall under state jurisdiction, bring in an estimated four to six billion dollars a year. That s 10 percent of all gambling revenue. But the growth of gambling is not without its detractors.