PORTLAND – For nearly two decades, the Oregon Lottery has refrained from advertising video gambling on television. Lottery officials said they didn’t want to go too far in promoting gambling.

Fast forward to the present as the lottery launches a new TV commercial campaign that shows the whirring wheels of its slot machine-style games in hopes of drawing more players.

The ads cost $430,000 to produce and air, and they’ll run until the end of December.

Video gambling accounts for about 70 cents of every dollar the lottery collects, but the games are in a slide. Video gambling sales are off 22 percent from a year ago. The lottery blames the recession and a smoking ban that went into effect in January.

The Oregon Lottery sent $1.4 billion to the state budget in 2007-09. Most of it went to schools, parks and paying off state debt. The estimate for the current budget is that the lottery will contribute just $1 billion.

When lawmakers first approved the use of state-run video poker machines in bars and taverns in 1991, lottery officials agreed not to use commercials to promote video gambling. They also said they wouldn’t allow the bars and taverns to advertise the games.