Lottery Officials ‘Generally Satisfied’ as Revenue, Scholarships Drop
According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, lottery ticket sales and scholarship money fell during the month of August, compared to last year.
Ticket sales for August, 2013, were roughly half-a-million dollars less than August, 2012. More significantly, scholarship revenue–the Arkansas Lottery’s purpose–fell by $791,000.
Despite this news, the Director of the Arkansas Lottery told the Lottery Commission on Monday, “We are generally satisfied with the position we are in at this point.”
The Arkansas Lottery Commission also decided Monday to seek input from the legislative oversight committee on raising the mileage reimbursement it pays lottery employees–an added cost of about $67,000 extra each year.
One has to wonder how the Lottery can be “satisfied” with lagging sales and falling scholarship revenue, and why anyone would think tacking on additional expenses in the midst of all that is a good idea. If the Lottery has an extra $67,000 lying around, wouldn’t that money be better spent on scholarships? That is, after all, the reason the Arkansas Lottery exists in the first place.