Lottery Scholarship Funding Dismal Despite Revenue Spike

Last week the Arkansas Lottery posted its financial report for the month of August.

The Arkansas Lottery took in over $49.3 million in last month — nearly $12.5 million than the month before — but it paid out $8.9 million to scholarships — roughly 18.1% of its gross revenue.

Since 2014, the Arkansas Lottery has spent roughly 18% – 19% of its revenue on scholarships. That’s well below the national average.

There are no two ways about it: The Arkansas Lottery is a failure. It rolled out more gambling more quickly than any lottery we know in order to artificially bolster ticket sales.

It sets aside a smaller percentage of money for education than the average state lottery.

Other state lotteries pay more money to education despite making less money than Arkansas’ lottery.

And rather than reassess its priorities or restructure its budget, the Arkansas Lottery has a habit of trying to use marketing and promotion to gloss over its shortcomings.

Below is a breakdown of lottery figures so far this financial year.

Month Gross Lottery Revenue Paid to Scholarships % Gross Revenue
July $ 36,885,396.81  $ 6,661,762.99 18.1%
August  49,320,459.23 8,912,741.54 18.1%
Total  $ 86,205,856.04  $ 15,574,504.53 18.1%

Canada’s Obsession With Euthanasia

Recently, our friends at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview have published commentaries on assisted suicide and euthanasia in Canada.

Last year Canada legalized so-called “medical assistance in dying.” However, many Canadian doctors have been reluctant to help patients end their lives.

Last August, John Stonestreet highlighted a proposal to pay Canadian doctors a premium to prescribe deadly drugs. The goal seems to be to offer a financial incentive to doctors who assist with patients’ suicides.

Yesterday, Eric Metaxas cited efforts to make assisted suicide and euthanasia more accessible for the mentally ill. As Metaxas points out, these newest arguments in favor of expanding assisted suicide in Canada center less around compassion for those who suffer and more around improving society. He writes,

In Canada’s case, [assisted suicide is] being championed by people who claim to be working for a better future. Whatever the setting, compassion is the last thing we should call it.

Christians are often criticized for using the “slippery slope” argument when it comes to assisted suicide — the argument that what starts out as assisted suicide for a few terminally-ill people ends with euthanasia.

In this case, Canada doesn’t simply seem to be on a slippery slope; they’re plummeting down it.

Photo Credit: By Gustavo Vilela Alkmin (Máquina fotográfica de colega) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.