Video: Gambling Amendment Proposed
A proposed gambling amendment would legalize casino-style games in Arkansas under the auspices of the state lottery.
Watch this video to learn more.
Family Council Opposes Amendment to Legalize Casino-Style Games Under Lottery
On August 30 the group Arcade Arkansas filed an amendment to legalize coin-operated machines under the auspices of the Arkansas Lottery.
Family Council President Jerry Cox issued a statement saying,
“This amendment will bring casino-type gambling machines into convenience stores and eating places all over Arkansas. It will turn the corner convenience store into a casino and create hangouts where people can gamble 24 hours a day. This amendment is not about helping students or veterans. This amendment allocates absolutely no money for scholarships or veterans. Instead, it turns all the money over to Arkansas’ failing lottery. It allows up to 15,000 gambling machines with little or no oversight to prevent fraud. The state of Georgia has spent years trying to dig itself out of the crime these machines and their owners brought to the state. “
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AR Lottery Scholarship Funding Nears Five-Year Low
Last week the Arkansas Lottery released its financial statements for the month of July.
The report shows the Lottery took in over $41.2 million last month, but gave only $4.5 million to college scholarships — 11% of the Lottery’s total revenue for the month.
The Lottery’s scholarship budget for a single month hasn’t been this bad since February of 2016, when the Arkansas Lottery paid less than $4.5 million to scholarships.
As far as we can tell, July was the Arkansas Lottery’s third-worst month in the past five years when it came to scholarship funding.
The Arkansas Lottery made, on average, over $1.3 million every day last month. There’s simply no good reason the Lottery can’t give students more than 11 cents out of every dollar.
Below is a breakdown of Arkansas Lottery revenue and scholarship funding from the past five years.
| Month | Gross Lottery Revenue | Paid to Scholarships | % Gross Revenue |
| July, 2014 | 30,925,067.43 | 5,928,447.99 | 19.2% |
| August | 31,571,412.10 | 5,296,965.80 | 16.8% |
| September | 30,710,493.31 | 4,317,227.10 | 14.1% |
| October | 32,959,739.29 | 5,939,625.59 | 18.0% |
| November | 30,617,278.28 | 5,577,035.16 | 18.2% |
| December | 34,507,731.54 | 5,474,318.77 | 15.9% |
| January, 2015 | 35,433,619.67 | 7,287,773.28 | 20.6% |
| February | 41,770,314.46 | 6,161,343.01 | 14.8% |
| March | 37,367,453.25 | 6,898,524.35 | 18.5% |
| April | 33,866,970.54 | 5,881,005.95 | 17.4% |
| May | 35,689,036.10 | 5,409,050.48 | 15.2% |
| June | 33,815,559.59 | 8,278,928.14 | 24.5% |
| July | 31,665,651.14 | 5,784,683.09 | 18.3% |
| August | 31,265,177.55 | 5,490,094.00 | 17.6% |
| September | 36,134,389.63 | 6,624,967.11 | 18.3% |
| October | 35,261,533.80 | 6,020,642.32 | 17.1% |
| November | 32,226,599.28 | 5,725,139.09 | 17.8% |
| December | 38,670,746.09 | 6,425,754.66 | 16.6% |
| January, 2016 | 58,746,249.00 | 13,831,359.75 | 23.5% |
| February | 40,790,144.05 | 4,474,356.06 | 11.0% |
| March | 40,579,421.05 | 5,758,892.84 | 14.2% |
| April | 37,516,802.47 | 7,392,837.00 | 19.7% |
| May | 38,485,146.05 | 6,606,164.94 | 17.2% |
| June | 34,983,951.24 | 11,249,220.37 | 32.2% |
| July | 38,237,293.92 | 8,714,386.39 | 22.8% |
| August | 35,091,022.09 | 5,498,714.86 | 15.7% |
| September | 33,113,391.64 | 5,773,076.42 | 17.4% |
| October | 34,061,993.14 | 5,165,040.54 | 15.2% |
| November | 37,042,079.72 | 6,570,979.51 | 17.7% |
| December | 35,352,159.35 | 4,596,532.22 | 13.0% |
| January, 2017 | 37,062,291.39 | 7,947,546.21 | 21.4% |
| February | 41,176,854.60 | 6,698,099.62 | 16.3% |
| March | 43,405,541.56 | 6,204,704.75 | 14.3% |
| April | 38,671,617.14 | 7,845,827.56 | 20.3% |
| May | 38,185,263.61 | 7,068,770.18 | 18.5% |
| June | 38,517,227.85 | 13,193,652.18 | 34.3% |
| July | 36,885,396.81 | 6,661,762.99 | 18.1% |
| August | 49,320,459.23 | 8,912,741.54 | 18.1% |
| September | 36,405,731.14 | 6,755,333.93 | 18.6% |
| October | 39,802,740.53 | 5,667,305.74 | 14.2% |
| November | 36,186,107.78 | 6,691,228.00 | 18.5% |
| December | 44,716,219.32 | 6,583,355.77 | 14.7% |
| January, 2018 | 44,063,056.11 | 8,230,861.00 | 18.7% |
| February | 39,389,927.57 | 5,947,647.50 | 15.1% |
| March | 53,523,320.61 | 7,945,570.02 | 14.8% |
| April | 42,064,194.78 | 7,192,997.10 | 17.1% |
| May | 40,447,182.69 | 8,037,624.80 | 19.9% |
| June | 37,685,874.97 | 13,364,612.64 | 35.5% |
| July | 42,413,352.70 | 5,066,628.73 | 11.9% |
| August | 40,343,279.62 | 6,175,998.40 | 15.3% |
| September | 35,198,809.72 | 7,783,450.82 | 22.1% |
| October | 57,575,285.62 | 11,259,040.31 | 19.6% |
| November | 37,700,016.00 | 6,821,411.01 | 18.1% |
| December | 45,859,642.73 | 6,650,791.54 | 14.5% |
| January, 2019 | 40,574,813.28 | 7,848,495.62 | 19.3% |
| February | 41,060,111.75 | 8,198,257.31 | 20.0% |
| March | 51,988,380.67 | 8,552,307.04 | 16.5% |
| April | 43,951,257.94 | 8,176,383.34 | 18.6% |
| May | 41,158,346.08 | 8,396,193.42 | 20.4% |
| June | 38,413,526.87 | 13,482,789.59 | 35.1% |
| July | 41,239,173.79 | 4,523,930.75 | 11.0% |