Last week the Arkansas Lottery Commission approved a budget for fiscal year 2014 predicting lottery revenue to decline by several million dollars.
According to an article in last week’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the decline will be $21 million altogether.
Reviewing the budget approved last week reveals that revenue itself is expected to go down by more than $9 million; the 2013 budget expected lottery ticket sales to top $98.5 million, while sales for 2014 are only expected to go as high as $89.5 million.
Additionally, charts accompanying the budget indicate lottery ticket sales are down for the spring of 2013 over the spring of 2012.
All of that means less money for the scholarships the lottery is supposed to provide, and verifies what we said before: Lottery ticket sales cannot stay high forever; eventually they drop, and they drag scholarships down with them.
