Category: Arkansas Lottery

Lottery Officials to Push for More Ad Money

Arkansas Lottery officials announced over the weekend that they plan to push for a half-a-million dollar increase in the lottery’s advertising budget.

If approved, the lottery would contract with advertisers to promote scratch-off tickets and capitalize on the Arkansas Lottery’s upcoming five year anniversary. The goal is to shore up lagging ticket sales.

We have written about how the Arkansas Lottery also plans to roll out “monitor games” in the coming year in an effort to boost ticket sales.

Of course, one has to wonder: If the Arkansas Lottery is as strapped for cash as many say, where is this extra $500,000 coming from?  How is it the Lottery has been forced to cut its scholarship budget over and over again, and yet it has an extra half-a-million dollars available for advertising?

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New Projections Show Monitor Games Will Not Save Lottery

In an article from today’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, State Senator Jimmy Hickey (R-Texarkana) is quoted as asking the Arkansas Lottery Commission to reconsider its decision to move forward with the “monitor games” we told you about a few weeks ago.

The games would be played over TV screens in bars, restaurants, or convenience stores, and could lead to miniature casinos popping up around Arkansas under the auspices of the lottery. Needless to say, many legislators are deeply concerned about this.

What is telling, however, are the revenue projections for these monitor games. The games are expected to bring in an additional $12.5 million in 2015, raising gross ticket sales to approximately $428.7 million for the year.

$428.7 million sounds like a lot of money, but it only translates into about $83 – $90 million for scholarships–far short of the lottery’s ever-illusive $100 million goal.

In other words, monitor games won’t make the Arkansas Lottery successful. They will only make it slightly less of a failure.

The Arkansas Lottery does not suffer from a ticket sales problem. It suffers from a management problem. Administrative costs are out of control, and the students who were supposed to reap the most benefit from the Lottery are consistently its lowest priority.

According to the Lottery’s own numbers, these monitor games arguably cannot save the Arkansas Lottery. With that in mind–and given the reservations so many people have expressed about the games–is there really any reason to implement them?

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Does the Arkansas Lottery Plan to Market to College Kids?

The Arkansas Lottery Commission voted yesterday to authorize monitor games despite objections from Arkansas lawmakers. That was a very controversial move, but another decision by the commission is receiving much less attention: The decision to pursue marketing in conjunction with Arkansas’ colleges and universities.

According to the Associated Press, Lottery Director Bishop Woosley says the lottery might sell Arkansas Razorback-themed lottery tickets and advertise the lottery at college sporting events. For a lottery that rolled out more gambling in its first two months than other states did in five years, a Razorback scratch-off ticket may not sound like much; the bigger question is does this vote allow the Arkansas Lottery to do more “marketing” on college campuses than Woosley let on?

Arkansas Code Section 23-115-402 (b) states:

This chapter does not prohibit the [lottery] commission from designating certain of its agents and employees to sell or give tickets or shares directly to the public.

Arkansas Code Section 23-115-601 Subdivision (f)(5)(B)(vii)(b) states:

[T]his section does not preclude the [lottery] commission from selling or giving away tickets or shares for promotional purposes.

Finally, concerning lottery ticket retailers, Arkansas Code Section 23-115-402 (c) states:

Subject to prior approval by the commission, retailers may give away tickets or shares as a means of promoting goods or services to customers or prospective customers.

So under the enabling legislation that established the Arkansas Lottery Commission in 2009, the commission can sell or give away lottery tickets for promotional purposes, and retailers may (with the commission’s blessing) give away tickets as well.

This raises a question: Does the Arkansas Lottery Commission plan to “promote” the Arkansas Lottery by giving away free lottery tickets on college campuses? (more…)

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