Financial reports released Monday show the Arkansas Lottery is still paying the state’s college scholarships pennies on the dollar, and that the lion’s share of the Lottery’s revenue is going to prizes awarded to lottery players.
In September only 19.5% of the Lottery’s revenue went to scholarships. Seventy percent went to prizes.
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 | % Going to Scholarships |
| July | $47,591,757.56 | $8,338,564.13 | 17.5% |
| August | 50,243,929.03 | 6,786,603.75 | 13.5% |
| September | 46,864,567.90 | 9,160,216.22 | 19.5% |
| Total | $144,700,254.49 | $24,285,384.10 | 16.8% |
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% |
| September | 46,864,567.90 | 32,794,810.04 | 70.0% |
| Total | $144,700,254.49 | $100,021,964.29 | 69.1% |
Photo Credit: Powerball and Mega Millions Lottery Billboard in Missouri by Tony Webster, on Flickr.
