The Morning News poll shows that 6 percent of Utahns say they have participated in pari-mutuel betting in states surrounding Utah at one time or another, including 3 percent who did so last year.

Wyoming also came close this year to authorizing a state lottery. A bill to do that — and offer some competition to Idaho for Utahns' lottery gambling — failed on a tie vote in the Wyoming House of Representatives. Other unsuccessful bills there sought to expand electronic bingo machines, electronic pull-tab machines and Indian gaming compacts for casinos.

COLORADO

Casinos are available over the Colorado border for residents of southeastern Utah. The Ute Mountain Casino is near Cortez, and advertises that it is two hours from Arches and Canyonlands national parks, three hours from Lake Powell and 15 minutes from the Four Corners monument.

Tribal officials declined comment about how many Utahns it attracts, its advertising budget and how the tribe spends its profits.

The Sky Ute Casino in Ignacio, Colo., also advertises somewhat to Utahns, noting it is 433 miles from Salt Lake City.

As of last October, Colorado had 45 gaming establishments, from Indian casinos to commercial casinos the state authorized in the mountain towns of Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek to revitalize them. The Colorado Division of Gaming said $66.9 million was wagered at such establishments statewide last year.

Colorado also offers a lottery, with sales sites just over the border. Colorado sold $409.9 million in lottery products in 2004, a 6 percent increase over 2003. The state says $101.6 million of that went to state schools, parks and building funds.

Colorado also offers gambling on horse and greyhound races and off-track betting — but most are far from the Utah border and are generally clustered around Denver. The state reports that $206.7 million was wagered on pari-mutuel betting in Colorado in 2003.

ARIZONA

Arizona offers maybe the lone example of where gambling trying to attract Utahns did not pay well.

The Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians opened a casino several years ago near Fredonia, not far off the main highway between the north rim of the Grand Canyon and Kanab. But it failed within a couple of years.

"At first, it was open 24 hours a day," says Danny Bulletts, vice chairman of the tribe. "But we didn't have the traffic we needed to maintain it. . . . Toward the end, it was open only eight hours a day. We had to cut back on workers. . . . Finally, it just wasn't making money, and we closed it."

Bulletts says the tribe still has a gambling compact with the state, but is not currently considering opening another casino.