This week the Arkansas Lottery released its financial reports for the month of August.
The report shows that the Arkansas Lottery took in nearly $40.9 million last month, but paid less than $5 million to college scholarships — about 12% of all the money the Arkansas Lottery made.
In July, the Lottery set aside only $4.5 million for scholarships, making it one of the Lottery’s worst months since 2014.
August was one of the Arkansas Lottery’s top 20 months from the past five years when it came to gross revenue. But August was the Arkansas Lottery’s fifth worst month in the past five years when it came to college scholarships.
In other words, lottery revenue appears to be just fine, but the Lottery Office isn’t budgeting very much money for college scholarships.
The Arkansas Lottery is notorious for putting other priorities ahead of the scholarships it is supposed to fund, but the Lottery Office is only two months into Fiscal Year 2020, and already its scholarship budget is near a five-year low.
Below is a breakdown of Lottery revenue and scholarship funding so far this fiscal year.
| Month | Gross Lottery Revenue | Paid to Scholarships | % Gross Revenue |
| July | $41,239,173.79 | $4,523,930.75 | 11.0% |
| August | 40,899,086.75 | 4,942,736.97 | 12.1% |
| Total | $82,138,260.54 | $9,466,667.72 | 11.5% |
Below is a look at lottery revenue and scholarship funding since Fiscal Year 2015.
| Month | Gross Lottery Revenue | Paid to Scholarships | % Gross Revenue |
| July, 2014 | 30,925,067.43 | 5,928,447.99 | 19.17% |
| August, 2014 | 31,571,412.10 | 5,296,965.80 | 16.78% |
| September, 2014 | 30,710,493.31 | 4,317,227.10 | 14.06% |
| October, 2014 | 32,959,739.29 | 5,939,625.59 | 18.02% |
| November, 2014 | 30,617,278.28 | 5,577,035.16 | 18.22% |
| December, 2014 | 34,507,731.54 | 5,474,318.77 | 15.86% |
| January, 2015 | 35,433,619.67 | 7,287,773.28 | 20.57% |
| February, 2015 | 41,770,314.46 | 6,161,343.01 | 14.75% |
| March, 2015 | 37,367,453.25 | 6,898,524.35 | 18.46% |
| April, 2015 | 33,866,970.54 | 5,881,005.95 | 17.37% |
| May, 2015 | 35,689,036.10 | 5,409,050.48 | 15.16% |
| June, 2015 | 33,815,559.59 | 8,278,928.14 | 24.48% |
| July, 2015 | 31,665,651.14 | 5,784,683.09 | 18.27% |
| August, 2015 | 31,265,177.55 | 5,490,094.00 | 17.56% |
| September, 2015 | 36,134,389.63 | 6,624,967.11 | 18.33% |
| October, 2015 | 35,261,533.80 | 6,020,642.32 | 17.07% |
| November, 2015 | 32,226,599.28 | 5,725,139.09 | 17.77% |
| December, 2015 | 38,670,746.09 | 6,425,754.66 | 16.62% |
| January, 2016 | 58,746,249.00 | 13,831,359.75 | 23.54% |
| February, 2016 | 40,790,144.05 | 4,474,356.06 | 10.97% |
| March, 2016 | 40,579,421.05 | 5,758,892.84 | 14.19% |
| April, 2016 | 37,516,802.47 | 7,392,837.00 | 19.71% |
| May, 2016 | 38,485,146.05 | 6,606,164.94 | 17.17% |
| June, 2016 | 34,983,951.24 | 11,249,220.37 | 32.16% |
| July, 2016 | 38,237,293.92 | 8,714,386.39 | 22.79% |
| August, 2016 | 35,091,022.09 | 5,498,714.86 | 15.67% |
| September, 2016 | 33,113,391.64 | 5,773,076.42 | 17.43% |
| October, 2016 | 34,061,993.14 | 5,165,040.54 | 15.16% |
| November, 2016 | 37,042,079.72 | 6,570,979.51 | 17.74% |
| December, 2016 | 35,352,159.35 | 4,596,532.22 | 13.00% |
| January, 2017 | 37,062,291.39 | 7,947,546.21 | 21.44% |
| February, 2017 | 41,176,854.60 | 6,698,099.62 | 16.27% |
| March, 2017 | 43,405,541.56 | 6,204,704.75 | 14.29% |
| April, 2017 | 38,671,617.14 | 7,845,827.56 | 20.29% |
| May, 2017 | 38,185,263.61 | 7,068,770.18 | 18.51% |
| June, 2017 | 38,517,227.85 | 13,193,652.18 | 34.25% |
| July, 2017 | 36,885,396.81 | 6,661,762.99 | 18.06% |
| August, 2017 | 49,320,459.23 | 8,912,741.54 | 18.07% |
| September, 2017 | 36,405,731.14 | 6,755,333.93 | 18.56% |
| October, 2017 | 39,802,740.53 | 5,667,305.74 | 14.24% |
| November, 2017 | 36,186,107.78 | 6,691,228.00 | 18.49% |
| December, 2017 | 44,716,219.32 | 6,583,355.77 | 14.72% |
| January, 2018 | 44,063,056.11 | 8,230,861.00 | 18.68% |
| February, 2018 | 39,389,927.57 | 5,947,647.50 | 15.10% |
| March, 2018 | 53,523,320.61 | 7,945,570.02 | 14.85% |
| April, 2018 | 42,064,194.78 | 7,192,997.10 | 17.10% |
| May, 2018 | 40,447,182.69 | 8,037,624.80 | 19.87% |
| June, 2018 | 37,685,874.97 | 13,364,612.64 | 35.46% |
| July, 2018 | 42,413,352.70 | 5,066,628.73 | 11.95% |
| August, 2018 | 40,343,279.62 | 6,175,998.40 | 15.31% |
| September, 2018 | 35,198,809.72 | 7,783,450.82 | 22.11% |
| October, 2018 | 57,575,285.62 | 11,259,040.31 | 19.56% |
| November, 2018 | 37,700,016.00 | 6,821,411.01 | 18.09% |
| December, 2018 | 45,859,642.73 | 6,650,791.54 | 14.50% |
| January, 2019 | 40,574,813.28 | 7,848,495.62 | 19.34% |
| February, 2019 | 41,060,111.75 | 8,198,257.31 | 19.97% |
| March, 2019 | 51,988,380.67 | 8,552,307.04 | 16.45% |
| April, 2019 | 43,951,257.94 | 8,176,383.34 | 18.60% |
| May, 2019 | 41,158,346.08 | 8,396,193.42 | 20.40% |
| June, 2019 | 38,413,526.87 | 13,482,789.59 | 35.10% |
| July, 2019 | 41,239,173.79 | 4,523,930.75 | 10.97% |
| August, 2019 | 40,899,086.75 | 4,942,736.97 | 12.09% |
