Category: Arkansas Lottery

Arkansas Lottery Spends Little on Scholarship Despite Best Month Ever

The Arkansas Lottery spent very little on college scholarships in May, despite having what appears to be the Lottery’s best single month ever.

According to its latest report, the Arkansas Lottery made a staggering $61.1 million last month.

For comparison, the Lottery averaged about $41 – $42 million in revenue per month prior to May.

Despite making so much money, the Lottery paid only $8.6 million to college scholarships — about 14% of the Lottery’s revenue.

Seventy percent of Arkansas Lottery revenue went to prizes. That’s nearly $43 million!

For perspective the typical state lottery pays about 30% of its revenue to education and budgets about 60% of its revenue for prizes.

Because the Arkansas Lottery budgets so much money for prizes and so little for education, the Lottery has failed to live up to its promise to provide $100 million per year in funding for college scholarships.

As we have written before, it’s telling that lottery ticket sales in Arkansas surged amid the COVID-19 pandemic just as people received economic stimulus checks from the government.

In other words, there’s a very good possibility Arkansans spent their unemployment checks and federal stimulus money on lottery tickets.

The Arkansas Lottery also has continued to rely heavily on scratch-off tickets despite the fact that scratch-off tickets are closely linked with problem gambling and gambling addiction.

Below is a breakdown of Arkansas Lottery ticket sales and scholarship funding so far this fiscal year.

Month	Gross Lottery Revenue	Paid to Scholarships	% Gross Revenue
July	$41,239,173.79	$4,523,930.75	11.0%
August	40,899,086.75	4,942,736.97	12.1%
September	36,202,677.79	6,565,973.32	18.1%
October	38,932,640.23	6,318,099.21	16.2%
November	36,118,641.12	5,947,177.45	16.5%
December	46,134,469.21	6,371,983.49	13.8%
January, 2020	40,802,067.75	8,239,083.77	20.2%
February	40,670,746.71	7,233,556.77	17.8%
March	47,876,969.85	7,386,497.30	15.4%
April	49,549,754.16	8,318,312.64	16.8%
May	61,129,306.96	8,619,106.39	14.1%
Total	$479,555,534.32	$74,466,458.06	15.5%

Photo Credit: Powerball and Mega Millions Lottery Billboard in Missouri by Tony Webster, on Flickr.

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Arkansas Lottery Rolls Out Even More Scratch-Off Tickets

This week the Arkansas Lottery rolled out four new scratch-off tickets — including one ticket that sells for $10.

Scratch-off tickets are controversial, because they are tied to problem gambling and gambling addiction.

A 2015 study in Canada described them as “paper slot machines.” 

A 2018 study published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions found a link between how often a person played scratch-off tickets and the severity of a person’s gambling problem.

Expensive scratch-off tickets are particularly controversial, because they prey on the poor and desperate by offering long odds on big jackpots.

Despite all of this, the Arkansas Lottery still relies very heavily on scratch-off tickets.

The vast majority of the money the Arkansas Lottery makes from scratch-off tickets pays for prizes for lottery players. Very little goes to Arkansas’ students.

As long as the Arkansas Lottery continues to operate this way, it will keep preying on the poor and desperate, and the Lottery’s scholarship funding will remain low.

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Lottery Ticket Sales Surge Amid Pandemic

According to KATV news, Arkansans have spent $17 million on state lottery tickets in the past seven weeks.

Lottery ticket sales have surged in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lottery officials say the uptick in sales could be the result of lower gas prices, closure of the casinos during the pandemic, and simply boredom.

However, our office recently analyzed weekly sales from the Arkansas Lottery, and it appears that lottery ticket sales in Arkansas rose after Arkansans began receiving economic stimulus checks from the federal government.

In other words, there’s a very good possibility Arkansans have been spending their unemployment checks and federal stimulus money on lottery tickets.

Here are five points worth remembering about the Arkansas Lottery:

• The Arkansas Lottery relies heavily on scratch-off tickets despite the fact that these types of tickets can feed problem gambling and gambling addiction.
• The Arkansas Lottery continues to sell scratch-off tickets that cost as much as $10 or $20 a piece. People who spend $20 on these scratch-off tickets have roughly a 66% chance of losing their money.
• The Arkansas Lottery spends the vast majority of its revenue on prizes — upwards of 70%, which is far more than the typical state-run lottery.
• The Arkansas Lottery currently spends about 15% – 16% of its revenue on college scholarships — which is about half of what the typical state-run lottery spends.
• Because the Arkansas Lottery budgets so much for prizes and so little for education, the Lottery has failed to live up to its promise to provide $100 million per year in funding for college scholarships.

The bottom line: The Arkansas Lottery preys on the poor and desperate, and it has failed time and again to live up to its promises.

Photo Credit: Powerball and Mega Millions Lottery Billboard in Missouri by Tony Webster, on Flickr.

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