Financial reports show that the Arkansas Lottery still is allocating a paltry amount for college scholarships.
Since the state’s new fiscal year started last July, only 15 – 16 cents out of every dollar the Arkansas Lottery made actually went to scholarships. However, nearly 69% of the Lottery’s revenue has gone to prizes for lottery players.
For perspective, the typical state lottery budgets approximately 25% – 30% of its revenue for education and about 60% for prizes.
The Arkansas Lottery could pay millions of dollars more to scholarships every year if it simply would reduce its prize budget and raise its scholarship budget. Unfortunately, the Lottery has shown little interest in doing that.
Below is a breakdown of lottery revenue, scholarships, and prizes for Fiscal Year 2022.
Scholarship Spending
| Month | Gross Lottery Revenue | Paid to Scholarships | % Gross Revenue |
| July | $47,591,757.56 | $8,338,564.13 | 17.5% |
| August | 50,243,929.03 | 6,786,603.75 | 13.5% |
| Total | $97,835,686.59 | $15,125,167.88 | 15.5% |
Prize Spending
| Month | Gross Lottery Revenue | Total Prizes | % Going to Prizes |
| July | $47,591,757.56 | $33,228,956.66 | 69.8% |
| August | 50,243,929.03 | 33,998,197.59 | 67.7% |
| Total | $97,835,686.59 | $67,227,154.25 | 68.7% |
Photo Credit: Powerball and Mega Millions Lottery Billboard in Missouri by Tony Webster, on Flickr.
