When Jacqueline Norsworthy and her husband retired to Casper in 1987 after living for several years in Colorado, they were delighted to return to their home state to be closer to their family and their cabin in the Big Horns. They also didn't mind leaving behind the crowds of people in the fast-growing state to the south.

They were sad to say goodbye to something else, though: the Colorado Lottery.

As it turned out, the Norsworthys didn't completely leave the lottery behind. They have a son who lives in Colorado, and they send him money to buy lottery tickets for them. And when they go for a visit, they buy scratch tickets and play Powerball as well.

They would rather be able to play at home.

"I think Wyoming should have the Powerball lottery," said Norsworthy, 76. "We already spend the money, and it could stay here in the state if we just had something here."

Norsworthy is in the majority among Wyoming voters, according to a Casper Star-Tribune poll. Some 62 percent of the state's voters support joining the multistate Powerball lottery, with 32 percent opposed and 6 percent undecided.

The poll was conducted Jan. 30-Feb. 1 by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. of Washington, D.C. A total of 625 registered Wyoming voters were interviewed statewide by telephone. All said they regularly vote in state elections. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

When it comes to legalizing casino gambling, however, most Wyoming voters aren't ready to take that step. The poll found 53 percent oppose casino gambling in the state, with 41 percent in support and 6 percent undecided.

State lawmakers have repeatedly defeated efforts for the state to join Powerball in recent years, though the votes have gotten closer. During the 2005 general session, such a bill died on a 29-29 vote in the House.

Last summer, lawmakers considered calling for a nonbinding referendum to gauge public sentiment on the issue, but a legislative committee in December opted against sponsoring a referendum bill in the coming budget session.

Sen. Bruce Burns, R-Sheridan, co-chairman of the committee that decided against the referendum, said Monday he was "somewhat surprised" at the level of support for Powerball.

"From what I've seen and heard, support or opposition seems to be regionalized," he said. "The eastern part of the state leans more toward it, while the western part is against."

The Star-Tribune poll covered all areas of the state, but the results were not broken down by region.

Burns and Rep. Pat Childers, R-Thermopolis, said they doubted that the poll results would prompt lawmakers to push through a lottery bill in the budget session that begins Monday. It will take a two-thirds majority vote to even introduce a non-budget bill, and Burns said he doubts there are enough votes to do so on this issue.

"I've always felt that if you didn't like the lottery, you don't buy a ticket," he said. "But the bill died on a 29-29 vote, and I don't know how you'd get 11 more to suddenly be for it."

Sen. Jim Anderson, R-Glenrock, said he falls among the 32 percent opposed to the lottery.

"From what I read and find out about lotteries in other states, they're not very successful, and they're losing their appeal, so to speak," he said. "Even with Powerball, we have a pretty small population, and I think it would be difficult to support it with the way it works, the bureaucracy or running it and the payback requirements.

"In order to be successful with lotteries, you have to promote them and advertise them. You have to continue to hype it," Anderson added. "You tell young people that you have to be 18 to buy a lottery ticket, yet you continually expose them to this hype… It sends very dangerous message to young people."

Anderson acknowledges the argument that lotteries are "a pretty benign form of gambling," but he said it is gambling nonetheless. And if legislators were to change the state law that outlaws most forms of gambling to allow lotteries, "I think we'd be going down a path we don't want to."

Lottery supporters, however, point out that many people in Wyoming already play by going out of state. And Agnes Blaney, 59, of Sheridan said there's no reason for them not to be able to play at home.

"It seems to me like some of those states are gaining by doing the lottery," she said. "I don't know why Wyoming can't do it, too."

Norsworthy agreed.

"We just have to go to different states to enjoy ourselves," she said. "When you're retired, you have to do something. We'd just like to have a little entertainment."

Norsworthy said she would even support casino gambling in Wyoming. She and her husband travel periodically to Deadwood, S.D., to gamble.

The Northern Arapaho Tribe is building a Las Vegas-style casino on the Wind River Indian Reservation under federal authority, but state law doesn't permit professional casino-style gambling off the reservation.

While the Star-Tribune poll found 53 percent of Wyoming voters oppose casino gambling in the state, that opposition didn't hold up across the board. Fifty-one percent of men actually supported casino gambling, with 43 percent opposed and 6 percent undecided. Women were strongly opposed, with 63 percent taking that position, 31 percent in support of casinos and 6 percent undecided.

In 1994, Wyomingites voted 69 percent to 31 percent against an initiative that would have given individual counties the ability to legalize casino gambling.

State Editor Chad Baldwin can be reached at (307) 266-0583 or via e-mail at chad.baldwin@casperstartribune.net.