No reason to gamble

The Oregon Lottery Commission was wise to resist the public school lobby’s latest demand for more money.

By rejecting a proposal for the state to keep a larger percentage of video poker and electronic slot machine revenue, the Commission might have helped rather than hurt schools.

Now, the 2,600 or so bars and taverns that have video gambling keep an average of 24 percent of the money. The state gets the rest, and two-thirds of that money — $680 million last year — goes to K-12 education.

The education lobby urged the Commission to trim retailers’ cut to 16 percent.

Commissioners voted last week to approve a five-year contract with retailers that retains the current split of the loot.

If video gambling income reverses its recent downward trend, the state will collect a larger percentage than the current average of 76 percent.

That’s fair, and appropriate.

Slashing retailers’ share to 16 percent, however, might have forced some to quit a business that’s already struggling mightily due to the recession and a ban on smoking that took effect in January.

Bars and taverns did endure past cuts in their share of video gambling revenue. That share has dropped by one-third in the past 20 years, yet the number of businesses operating video machines has risen by almost 25 percent.

But this recession, and the smoking ban, are unprecedented threats. This is a singularly poor time to add a third.

Public school advocates might truly believe that bars and taverns keep too much video gambling money.

But forcing those businesses to close is no solution.

A video poker machine that’s not plugged in doesn’t bring in much money, after all.