Last week the Arkansas Lottery posted its financial report for the month of August.
The Arkansas Lottery took in over $49.3 million in last month — nearly $12.5 million than the month before — but it paid out $8.9 million to scholarships — roughly 18.1% of its gross revenue.
Since 2014, the Arkansas Lottery has spent roughly 18% – 19% of its revenue on scholarships. That’s well below the national average.
There are no two ways about it: The Arkansas Lottery is a failure. It rolled out more gambling more quickly than any lottery we know in order to artificially bolster ticket sales.
It sets aside a smaller percentage of money for education than the average state lottery.
Other state lotteries pay more money to education despite making less money than Arkansas’ lottery.
And rather than reassess its priorities or restructure its budget, the Arkansas Lottery has a habit of trying to use marketing and promotion to gloss over its shortcomings.
Below is a breakdown of lottery figures so far this financial year.
Month | Gross Lottery Revenue | Paid to Scholarships | % Gross Revenue |
July | $ 36,885,396.81 | $ 6,661,762.99 | 18.1% |
August | 49,320,459.23 | 8,912,741.54 | 18.1% |
Total | $ 86,205,856.04 | $ 15,574,504.53 | 18.1% |