Proposing to amend the Nevada Constitution to revise provisions relating to lotteries and the sale of lottery tickets.

As ratified in 1864, the Nevada Constitution prohibited the State from authorizing a lottery and also prohibited lottery tickets from being sold. (Nev. Const. Art. 4, § 24 (1864)) Nevada's constitutional provisions regarding lotteries were modeled after provisions in the California Constitution of 1849, which were also similar to constitutional provisions adopted in several other states. (State ex rel. Murphy v. Overton, 16 Nev. 136, 146-52 (1881); Ex parte Pierotti, 43 Nev. 243, 247-52 (1919)) Such constitutional provisions were: (1) adopted to prohibit state legislatures from granting special charters to organizations, institutions, corporations or other entities authorizing them to operate lotteries and sell lottery tickets to the public; and (2) intended to protect the public from the harm caused by such chartered lotteries which were prevalent in our Nation's early history and which were plagued by fraud, corruption, mismanagement and abuse because they were largely unregulated by state governments. (Stone v. Mississippi, 101 U.S. 814, 818 (1879); State ex rel. Murphy v. Overton, 16 Nev. 136, 146-52 (1881); Ex parte Pierotti, 43 Nev. 243, 247-52 (1919); Poppen v. Walker, 520 N.W.2d 238, 243 (S.D. 1994) (“These lotteries were the principal evil which led to their prohibition in state constitutions.”), superseded on other grounds by constitutional amendments to S.D. Const. Art. III, § 25 (1994)) Under its existing provisions, the Nevada Constitution prohibits the State from authorizing a lottery, it also prohibits the State and its political subdivisions from operating a lottery and it also prohibits the sale of lottery tickets, but with certain exceptions for charitable lotteries. Specifically, in 1990, Nevada's voters approved constitutional amendments allowing the Legislature to provide by law for the operation and regulation of charitable lotteries, with certain restrictions, conducted by charitable or nonprofit organizations in the form of raffles or drawings on their own behalf. (Nev. Const. Art. 4, § 24) Following the 1990 constitutional amendments, the Legislature enacted laws providing for comprehensive regulation of charitable lotteries to ensure that those lotteries are operated honestly and free from criminal and corruptive elements and that the proceeds of those lotteries are expended to benefit the activities of charitable or nonprofit organizations in this State. (Chapter 462 of NRS) This joint resolution proposes to amend the Nevada Constitution to allow the Legislature to provide by law for the operation and regulation of modern lotteries, in addition to charitable lotteries, including authorizing lottery tickets to be sold for such modern lotteries. However, this joint resolution prohibits the Legislature from enacting laws which grant a special charter or similar organizational or governing document to any person or other entity to operate lotteries or sell lottery tickets, and this joint resolution prohibits political subdivisions of this State from operating lotteries or selling lottery tickets. Finally, this joint resolution ensures that the operation of any charitable lotteries must comply with the existing provisions governing charitable lotteries that were added to the Nevada Constitution by the 1990 constitutional amendments. If this joint resolution is passed by the 2023 Legislature, it must also be passed by the next Legislature and then approved and ratified by the voters in an election before the proposed amendments to the Nevada Constitution become effective.