From the Desk of Ernie Goss Located in 24 states, 515 commercial casinos in 2016 collected $8.9 billion in taxes on $40.0 billion in gambler losses for an average tax rate of approximately 23%, or roughly triple the average sales tax rate. Eleven of the 24 casino states devoted casino tax collections to education spending, while the remaining 13 states dedicated the taxes to a wide array of state and local spending projects. Table 1 shows how casino states differed...

But while some Wisconsin lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle are open to the idea, which could bring more tax revenue to state coffers, placing a legal wager in Wisconsin could be years away and involve a series of complex measures. It would first need to be approved by the Assembly and Senate in two consecutive sessions and would then need to be approved in a statewide referendum in order to change the state’s constitution. https://madison.com/wsj/business/sports-gambling-inches-closer-to-wisconsin-but-its-legalization-in/article_c12028d8-0e88-5fb9-ae97-b4d6f6c539df.html?fbclid=IwAR18oNp7k-ygMLzS0IrvPMsDo3H8IeFcWf0W1iR5nyfq7SGqPBT-FAoiESo#utm_source=madison.com&utm_campaign=%2Femail-updates%2Fbreaking&utm_medium=PostUp&utm_content=8f08ea8184c2285643b56038b37d3fcfe6790229

Kathleen Pasch says she always intended to pay back the money she is accused of taking during her time as treasurer of the Black Creek Rescue Service. But that didn’t happen, authorities said. The 60-year-old woman is charged with stealing more than $100,000 from the service to support her gambling addiction, according to a criminal complaint filed last month in Outagamie County. Pasch isn’t the first person with access to company funds to face charges for taking money to finance...