According to financial reports published by the Arkansas Lottery this week, the Lottery took in $58.7 million last month, but paid out $13.8 million for college scholarships–less than 24% of its gross revenue for the month.
Below is a breakdown of the numbers since Fiscal Year 2016 started at the Arkansas Lottery last July.
Month | Gross Lottery Revenue | Paid to Scholarships | % Gross Revenue |
July | $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% |
Total | $263,970,346.49 | $49,902,640.02 | 18.9% |
All told, seven months into Fiscal Year 2016, the Arkansas Lottery has spent only about 19% of its gross revenue on college scholarships.
While Lottery officials may tout the high number of PowerBall tickets sold last month due to the record jackpots, the fact remains the Arkansas Lottery continues to allocate a pitiful percentage of its gross revenue for college scholarships. The average state lottery allocates around 30%. In Louisiana, 35% of lottery revenue goes to education. In Arkansas it is much, much less.