The State Should Not Balance Its Budget on Broken Homes

I respect the choices adults make. If a South Dakotan wants to play video lottery after work or put twenty dollars on a football game in Deadwood, that is their business and not mine.

What I oppose is something different. I oppose the state actively expanding gambling, marketing it, and depending on it to fund government, because every dollar of that revenue is collected disproportionately from addiction. The state should never have a financial interest in its own citizens losing.

What is on your ballot this November

This fall, South Dakota voters will decide SJR 504, a constitutional amendment to legalize mobile sports betting statewide. The Senate passed it 23 to 10 in February. If it passes in November, every phone in South Dakota becomes a casino. Every kitchen table, every break room, every dorm room, every teenager's bedroom with a borrowed login.

I am voting no, and I am asking you to vote no with me.

Sports betting in Deadwood is a destination. A person makes a decision, gets in a car, and goes. Sports betting on a phone is a compulsion engine that never closes, engineered by some of the best behavioral scientists money can buy. The states that legalized mobile betting are now watching the wreckage: bankruptcies up, savings drained, young men in particular carrying gambling debt they hide from their families.

This is a family issue, not a vice issue

I run a nonprofit that works with families when they break. I have heard thousands of stories about what actually breaks them. Addiction is near the top of the list, and gambling addiction is the quiet one. There is no smell on your breath. There is no slurred speech. There is just money that should have been the mortgage payment, gone, and a spouse who finds out months too late.

The state of South Dakota should not be a partner in that. When the legislature votes to raise video lottery bet limits or add machines, like the 2025 bills that tried to do exactly that, the state is not respecting personal freedom. It is increasing its own cut of family wreckage.

Where I stand

The state shouldn't balance its budget on broken homes. A casino in every pocket puts addiction and debt within reach of every child. Families come first, always.

That is the answer I gave Family Voice Action for their 2026 voter guide, and it is the position I will carry to Pierre:

Oppose SJR 504, the mobile sports betting amendment on your November ballot. Oppose video lottery expansion, whether it comes as more machines or higher bet limits. Strengthen problem-gambling resources for the families already fighting this, and protect minors from gambling exposure and marketing.

Common questions

"Gambling revenue funds education and important programs."

State revenue should never come at the expense of the families that pay taxes to support it. Gambling-funded programs trade one family's education benefit for another family's addiction. That is not a trade-off South Dakota should accept. Fund government with honest taxes, not on the backs of addicted citizens.

"Adults should make their own choices about gambling."

They can, and they will. Nothing I support takes away anyone's ability to gamble where it is legal today. What I oppose is the state pushing more gambling in front of every South Dakotan through phones, apps, and expanded venues. Personal responsibility and state promotion of addictive behavior are not the same thing. Individual choice is preserved. State expansion is not owed.

"Isn't this a small issue compared to taxes and schools?"

Ask the family living it whether it is small. Gambling addiction drives bankruptcy, divorce, and child support failures, and all three of those land in the systems I am running to fix. Keeping a casino out of every pocket is cheaper than repairing what it breaks.

Take the next step

Read the full platform at zac4sd.com, and remember SJR 504 when you flip your ballot over this November. While you are there, you can donate or sign up to volunteer. Families come first. Always.