Recently we wrote how the Arkansas Lottery allocated a paltry 11% of its gross revenue for college scholarships last month. While that is one of the worst months in the Lottery’s history, looking at the past six and a half years, the Arkansas Lottery has failed time and again to put students first on its list of priorities.
We compiled numbers going all the way back to the Lottery’s start date using financial reports published on the Arkansas Lottery’s website. Since September 2009, the Arkansas Lottery has made approximately $2,881,137,177.93, but only $572,575,775.55 went to college scholarships.
In other words, since the Lottery’s inception, only 19.9% of the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery’s gross revenue has actually gone to college scholarships. The rest has gone to vendor contracts, overhead and operating expenses, prizes, and so on.
Below is a breakdown of the numbers.
| Month | Gross Lottery Revenue | Paid to Scholarships | % Gross Revenue |
| September 2009 – December 2009 | $140,663,596.38 | $29,257,495.48 | 20.8% |
| January, 2010 | 40,732,059.10 | 8,213,311.32 | 20.2% |
| February | 46,006,517.45 | 9,713,297.81 | 21.1% |
| March | 43,305,930.90 | 9,677,617.03 | 22.3% |
| April | 38,182,470.50 | 8,270,655.49 | 21.7% |
| May | 39,933,085.50 | 11,129,450.15 | 27.9% |
| June | 35,728,633.85 | 6,289,957.24 | 17.6% |
| July | 35,031,491.82 | 7,520,120.34 | 21.5% |
| August | 35,320,546.96 | 7,338,723.82 | 20.8% |
| September | 34,254,979.66 | 6,549,850.89 | 19.1% |
| October | 36,656,481.26 | 9,719,358.08 | 26.5% |
| November | 35,438,274.50 | 8,256,268.77 | 23.3% |
| December | 40,240,809.78 | 6,696,764.84 | 16.6% |
| January, 2011 | 39,271,538.50 | 9,033,775.08 | 23.0% |
| February | 41,429,186.01 | 8,229,741.60 | 19.9% |
| March | 46,497,918.23 | 10,289,409.67 | 22.1% |
| April | 38,206,042.00 | 8,397,457.57 | 22.0% |
| May | 43,330,165.29 | 8,521,784.66 | 19.7% |
| June | 39,402,904.75 | 3,690,562.00 | 9.4% |
| July | 36,012,930.08 | 7,152,902.98 | 19.9% |
| August | 38,111,003.00 | 7,543,553.59 | 19.8% |
| September | 39,003,945.00 | 6,973,179.71 | 17.9% |
| October | 37,702,362.62 | 8,133,705.83 | 21.6% |
| November | 36,549,852.82 | 7,994,126.51 | 21.9% |
| December | 39,660,751.64 | 7,888,279.14 | 19.9% |
| January, 2012 | 35,166,516.65 | 5,522,746.82 | 15.7% |
| February | 49,160,394.76 | 9,729,593.58 | 19.8% |
| March | 51,432,631.61 | 12,827,373.05 | 24.9% |
| April | 39,433,610.80 | 7,066,187.76 | 17.9% |
| May | 36,887,158.00 | 7,571,654.04 | 20.5% |
| June | 34,504,440.30 | 9,179,224.65 | 26.6% |
| July | 33,799,768.89 | 4,752,501.51 | 14.1% |
| August | 35,021,798.75 | 7,193,285.93 | 20.5% |
| September | 29,774,378.22 | 6,584,956.76 | 22.1% |
| October | 33,905,873.06 | 6,632,866.03 | 19.6% |
| November | 39,432,474.86 | 8,443,935.59 | 21.4% |
| December | 34,257,289.75 | 6,914,260.68 | 20.2% |
| January, 2013 | 32,503,601.13 | 6,538,953.09 | 20.1% |
| February | 41,886,865.34 | 6,447,118.77 | 15.4% |
| March | 47,059,333.27 | 9,775,272.83 | 20.8% |
| April | 31,319,563.49 | 8,143,467.33 | 26.0% |
| May | 42,281,984.15 | 9,894,347.85 | 23.4% |
| June | 32,002,883.35 | 8,591,482.76 | 26.8% |
| July | 33,078,775.30 | 4,891,371.69 | 14.8% |
| August | 34,471,323.18 | 6,401,829.10 | 18.6% |
| September | 31,857,565.72 | 6,023,766.10 | 18.9% |
| October | 33,271,398.30 | 6,773,936.78 | 20.4% |
| November | 31,243,008.93 | 6,768,352.72 | 21.7% |
| December | 35,496,013.02 | 5,831,218.66 | 16.4% |
| January, 2014 | 31,078,390.22 | 5,616,281.40 | 18.1% |
| February | 38,985,852.63 | 5,909,955.50 | 15.2% |
| March | 41,258,315.52 | 7,324,233.06 | 17.8% |
| April | 36,626,908.39 | 7,476,150.84 | 20.4% |
| May | 33,323,318.34 | 6,513,245.39 | 19.5% |
| June | 29,947,098.30 | 11,927,613.98 | 39.8% |
| 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% |
| February | 41,770,314.46 | 6,161,343.01 | 14.8% |
| March | 37,367,453.25 | 6,898,524.35 | 18.5% |
| April | 33,866,970.54 | 5,881,005.95 | 17.4% |
| May | 35,689,036.10 | 5,409,050.48 | 15.2% |
| June | 33,815,559.59 | 8,278,928.14 | 24.5% |
| 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% |
| February | 40,790,144.05 | 4,474,356.06 | 11.0% |
| Total | $2,881,137,177.93 | $572,575,775.55 | 19.9% |
A Few Quick Facts on the Lottery
- Since September 2009, the Arkansas Lottery has grossed, on average, approximately $36.9 million every month, but has paid out only about $7.3 million in scholarship funding each month.
- The Arkansas Lottery has earned, on average, about $14 every second since September 2009.
- During the month of February alone, the Arkansas Lottery grossed nearly $40.8 million; that’s more than $16 every second, on average.
- The Arkansas Lottery has yet to live up to its promise of paying $100 million per year to scholarships.
Updated: This post has been updated since it was first published to include an additional six months worth of financial data from the Arkansas Lottery.
