We have written over and over again about how the Arkansas Lottery continues to reach new lows in funding for scholarships. This week the lottery released its figures for January.
The report shows that the Arkansas Lottery took in almost $35.5 million in January and paid out almost $7.3 million for scholarships. That comes to about 20.6% of gross revenue.
However, in looking at the report, it appears the only way the Arkansas Lottery was able to come up with $7.3 million for scholarships was by pulling $1.6 million out of reserve. According to its financial statements, the Lottery had roughly $5.7 million in net proceeds for scholarships at the end of the month–which is roughly on par with what it has set aside for scholarships the past few months; by pulling an additional $1.6 million from its reserves, the Arkansas Lottery was able to pay out a little more for scholarships.
| Month | Gross Lottery Revenue | Paid to Scholarships | % Gross Revenue |
| July | $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% |
| Total | $226,725,341.62 | $39,821,393.69 | 17.6% |
Setting aside almost twenty-one cents for scholarships from every dollar the Lottery made in January is nothing to brag about–Louisiana sets aside 35% by law–but it’s an improvement over the some of the figures we have seen since last summer, and it’s almost as good as some of the numbers we have seen from the Lottery in years past.
