Gambling Pays Out Less for U.S. States

State-sanctioned gambling has changed a lot since the 1970s, when a flurry of states began to introduce lotteries as a way to bring in extra revenue.

Since the 1990s a number of additional states allowed casinos as an additional way to bring in money from gambling. And then there's racinos, hybrid racing and gaming sites, which have caught on since 2000, according to a study from the Rockefeller Institute.

States saw a 1.8 percent increase in gambling revenues between 2008 and 2015, but that varied widely among states, according to the Rockefeller study. Arkansas, which introduced its state lottery in 2009, has seen the biggest increase in overall gaming tax-and-fee revenue during the period. New Jersey earnings fell 20 percent as neighboring Pennsylvania and New York introduced new options for gamblers.