According a report released by the Arkansas Lottery yesterday, October was the lowest month for lottery scholarship funding since February, even though the Arkansas Lottery made more money in October than it did in September.
The Arkansas Lottery took in more than $34 million in October, but paid out less than $5.2 million in scholarships. That’s the Lottery’s lowest scholarship allocation since February of this year.
For perspective, the Arkansas Lottery managed to pay nearly $5.8 million in scholarships in September, despite taking in $33.1 million. In other words, in September the Arkansas Lottery made less money, but paid out more in scholarships than it did in October.
So what is going on at the Arkansas Lottery? It’s hard to say, but one point we continue to come back to over and over again is the Lottery’s apparent inability to prioritize scholarship funding over its vendor contracts, marketing, salaries, and other expenses. Scholarships simply seem to be the last line-item in the Arkansas “Scholarship” Lottery’s budget.
You can read the October report here. Below is a breakdown of lottery ticket sales and scholarship funds this year:
| Month | Gross Lottery Revenue | Paid to Scholarships | % Gross Revenue |
| January | $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% |
| July | 38,237,293.92 | 8,714,386.39 | 22.8% |
| August | 35,091,022.09 | 5,498,714.86 | 15.7% |
| September | 33,113,391.64 | 5,773,076.42 | 17.4% |
| October | 34,061,993.14 | 5,165,040.54 | 15.2% |
| Total | $391,605,414.65 | $69,299,008.63 | 17.7% |
