State lotteries fight jackpot fatigue.

• Author: Berlin, Olivia
• Position: TRENDS

For the 44 states that have them, state lotteries represent a small but valuable source of revenue. In the last few years, at least half those states have seen that revenue decline. Fewer millennials are playing, and many people are waiting to play until jackpots get unusually large, a phenomenon called "jackpot fatigue." Lotteries also face growing competition from casinos and other forms of gambling.

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There are seven more state lotteries today than there were in 1999, but the number of Americans buying tickets has declined by 7 percent, according to a 2016 Gallup poll.

On average, about I percent of state revenue comes from lotteries. Sometimes that money goes into the general fund, but most legislatures use it for schools, senior services or environmental protection. In crafting the current state budget, West Virginia lawmakers used some lottery money to fund Medicaid, rather than raise other taxes to cover that cost.

In some states, lottery revenue rivals or exceeds that of corporate income taxes. Nationally, state lotteries generated $66.8 billion in gross revenue in fiscal 2015, which exceeds the $48.7 billion generated by corporate income taxes, according to the Pew Research Center.

After putting $42.2...