Arkansas Lottery Celebrates Pathetic Numbers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, July 11, 2016

LITTLE ROCK, AR – On Monday, the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery celebrated mediocre returns for fiscal 2016. Total sales increased according to a report released Monday, however the Lottery failed to disclose they gave students the same low percentage for scholarships as they did in fiscal 2015.

For every dollar earned by the Lottery, the Lottery gave only less than nineteen cents to students in Arkansas. They continue to give more in prizes, contracts, and administrative costs than they do in scholarship dollars.

“The Arkansas Scholarship Lottery should be ashamed of themselves for celebrating being near the bottom in the nation when it comes to proceeds to scholarships,” said Family Council President Jerry Cox. “The Lottery continues to skew their numbers to the public while they give very little to students in Arkansas.

“The national average of proceeds to scholarships and other intended purposes is roughly 33%, while Arkansas gives less than 19% to scholarships,” said Cox. “Those who run the Lottery should take a second look at the Lottery’s numbers before they brag about how little money they give to students; ranking near the bottom in the nation is nothing to brag about.”

Family Council is an organization of over 10,000 families and churches throughout Arkansas with a mission of promoting, protecting, and strengthening traditional family values.

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Arkansas Lottery Pays Less Than 19% to Scholarships in FY 2016

The Arkansas Lottery completed Fiscal Year 2016 a few days ago, and the numbers don’t look good.

The lottery posted its financial report for the month of June today. Altogether, the lottery took in more than $456.3 million from July 2015 – June 2016, but paid less than $85.4 million to scholarships.

That means less than 19 cents of every dollar the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery made in the past year actually went to the scholarships. The rest went elsewhere.

The Arkansas Lottery continues to have some of the highest administrative costs in the country; and while the average state lottery budgets about 30% of its gross revenue for education programs, the Arkansas Lottery consistently budgets less than 20%.

Below is a breakdown of the Arkansas Lottery’s scholarship figures for Fiscal Year 2016.

Month Gross Lottery Revenue Paid to Scholarships % Gross Revenue
July, 2015 $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%
Total $456,325,811.35 $85,384,111.23 18.7%