This afternoon the Arkansas Lottery posted its financial report for the month of February.
According to the report, the Arkansas Lottery grossed nearly $41.2 million, but gave less than $6.7 million to scholarships–about 16 cents of every dollar it made.
A new bill filed last week by Sen. Joyce Elliott (D-Little Rock) would require the Lottery to set aside at least 25% of its gross revenue for scholarships; under that bill, the Arkansas Lottery would have given nearly $10.3 million to scholarships in February.
Unfortunately, the Arkansas Lottery continues to budget a paltry amount of money for scholarships each month. Below is a breakdown of the numbers for Fiscal Year 2017.
Month | Gross Lottery Revenue | Paid to Scholarships | % Gross Revenue |
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% |
November | 37,042,079.72 | 6,570,979.51 | 17.7% |
December | 35,352,159.35 | 4,596,532.22 | 13.0% |
January, 2017 | 37,062,291.39 | 7,947,546.21 | 21.4% |
February | 41,176,854.60 | 6,698,099.62 | 16.3% |
Total | $291,137,085.85 | $50,964,375.77 | 17.5% |