Lottery Spends Almost 70% of Revenue on Prizes in Fiscal Year 2021
In June the Arkansas Lottery wrapped up Fiscal Year 2021.
Reports released Monday indicate that, all told, nearly 70% of the Arkansas Lottery’s revenue went to prizes for lottery players in the past fiscal year. Seventeen percent went to college scholarships.
For perspective, the typical state lottery budgets approximately 25% – 30% of its revenue for education and about 60% for prizes.
The Arkansas Lottery grossed nearly $632.6 million in fiscal year 2021. Of that money, $106.6 million went to scholarships. $440.1 million went to prizes.
The Arkansas Lottery managed to allocate more than $100 million for scholarships for the first time in its 12 year history. However, it was only able to do that by tapping into more than $8 million in unclaimed prize money.
The Arkansas Lottery could pay millions of dollars more to scholarships every year if it simply would reduce its prize budget and raise its scholarship budget. Unfortunately, the Lottery has shown little interest in doing that.
Below is a breakdown of lottery revenue, scholarships, and prizes for Fiscal Year 2021 (July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021).
Scholarship Spending
| Month | Gross Lottery Revenue | Paid to Scholarships | % Gross Revenue |
| July, 2020 | $49,780,369.99 | $8,592,573.93 | 17.3% |
| August | 49,672,105.04 | 7,862,917.44 | 15.8% |
| September | 47,501,224.72 | 7,691,576.99 | 16.2% |
| October | 42,615,839.96 | 8,447,337.00 | 19.8% |
| November | 43,115,514.84 | 8,207,598.88 | 19.0% |
| December | 50,329,644.30 | 5,970,922.53 | 11.9% |
| January, 2021 | 62,994,737.27 | 10,913,192.32 | 17.3% |
| February | 42,099,444.22 | 5,592,370.95 | 13.3% |
| March | 67,975,057.80 | 8,341,917.38 | 12.3% |
| April | 65,520,420.72 | 12,299,938.64 | 18.8% |
| May | 57,605,418.67 | 7,588,364.37 | 13.2% |
| June | 53,370,041.16 | 15,100,729.47 | 28.3% |
| Total | $632,579,818.69 | $106,609,439.90 | 16.9% |
Prize Spending
| Month | Gross Lottery Revenue | Total Prizes | % Going to Prizes |
| July, 2020 | 49,780,369.99 | 35,641,717.48 | 71.6% |
| August | 49,672,105.04 | 35,023,856.83 | 70.5% |
| September | 47,501,224.72 | 33,422,556.14 | 70.4% |
| October | 42,615,839.96 | 29,995,072.50 | 70.4% |
| November | 43,115,514.84 | 30,548,473.72 | 70.9% |
| December | 50,329,644.30 | 33,661,170.75 | 66.9% |
| January, 2021 | 62,994,737.27 | 41,745,065.17 | 66.3% |
| February | 42,099,444.22 | 27,955,512.19 | 66.4% |
| March | 67,975,057.80 | 47,945,090.78 | 70.5% |
| April | 65,520,420.72 | 46,040,694.02 | 70.3% |
| May | 57,605,418.67 | 40,336,944.48 | 70.0% |
| June | 53,370,041.16 | 37,830,320.48 | 70.9% |
| Total | 632,579,818.69 | 440,146,474.54 | 69.6% |
Photo Credit: Powerball and Mega Millions Lottery Billboard in Missouri by Tony Webster, on Flickr.
