In all, Delaware has 7200 VLTs, located at three sites in the state; Dover Downs, Delaware Park and Harrington Raceway.

Between the three, they account for about one-tenth of all the revenue for the state.

And that's typical.

Since Delaware began video lottery gaming nearly 16 years ago, others states have seen what's been happening there and have followed suit, with astounding results.

For example:

Rhode Island (population 1.1 million) has 6200 VLTs.  They generate $300 million annually.

West Virginia (population 1.8 million) has 12,000 VLTs.  They bring the state $600 million a year.

Pennsylvania has 26,800 VLTs at ten sites across the state.  In 2009, they generated $2.16 billion.

Maryland implemented VLTs in 2011.  By the end of this year, the state is expected to realize close to $400 million from their machines.

And, in Delaware (population 900,000) 7200 machines equaled $565 million for the state in 2009.

"In 15 years, we have generated $7.9 billion for the state of Delaware," Hutchison tells WSB.  "When I look at the population of Atlanta, you're sitting on a gold mine."

Sutor says a video lottery terminal hotel in Gwinnett County could mean $350 million a year for the HOPE Scholarship, and that could be a conservative number.  After all, Sutor says, metro Atlanta has a population approaching 5.5 million people, while Delaware has 900,000.  Fulton County alone has a population of 949,000.

And, Sutor, says, the state of Georgia, with nearly 10 million people, could easily handle six facilities, totaling, perhaps, 20,000 machines. 

So, how much could that mean for the HOPE?

"The key question is how much does each machine make?" Sutor says.  "The standard is $250 a day, so, if you have 2000 machines, that's $500,000 a day."

Meaning 20,000 VLTs in Georgia could mean $5 million a day, or $1.75 billion a year, for the HOPE Scholarship.