The Arkansas Lottery recently released financial reports showing that it still budgets pennies on the dollar for education.
The state-run lottery has grossed nearly $309.7 million this fiscal year, but only about 18% of that money — $57.9 million — has gone to college scholarships. Meanwhile, the Lottery has spent more than $200 million on prizes for lottery players.
Over the years the Arkansas Lottery has shown a consistent pattern of over-spending on prizes and other expenses while under-spending on education.
The Lottery also has a habit of relying heavily on scratch-off tickets — including expensive tickets that controversially entice people to spend money on long odds for large prizes.
Taken together, all of this makes Arkansas’ state-run lottery an especially predatory form of gambling.
Family Council has supported legislation in the past that would restructure the Arkansas Lottery’s budget to increase spending on education.
Arkansas could provide millions of dollars more in scholarship funding if it simply would reduce the Lottery’s prize budget and increase its scholarship budget to align with other state lotteries.
Unfortunately, that does not seem to be a priority at the Arkansas Lottery.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
