AR Cities Weigh Public Drinking Districts

Alcohol, Public Drinking,

Last week Arkansas Business reported several cities in Arkansas are weighing whether or not to legalize public drinking in certain parts of town.

Earlier this year the Arkansas Legislature passed Act 812 by Sen. Trent Garner (R – El Dorado) and Rep. Sonia Barker (R – Smackover). The new law — which takes effect July 24 — lets cities create “entertainment districts” where alcohol can be carried and consumed publicly on streets and sidewalks.

Currently, this kind of behavior is illegal under Arkansas law.

According to the article, Little Rock, Texarkana, El Dorado, and Pine Bluff are considering the issue of public drinking in one way or another.

Mountain Home also is actively considering a proposal that would legalize public drinking on streets and sidewalks throughout most of its downtown.

As we keep saying, letting people drink on city streets and sidewalks won’t improve the economy in our communities.

Public drinking raises serious concerns about public safety.

Cities like Memphis and New Orleans have had significant problems with violence in their entertainment districts.

These districts also raise serious concerns about drunk driving in our communities.

Arkansas’ cities and towns need to think twice before embracing public drinking — and the problems that come with it.

You can read more about this story here.

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Arkansas Lottery Giving Students Less Than 18 Cents of Every Dollar

Arkansas Lottery,

The Arkansas Lottery released its financial reports for the month of May last week.

The report shows the Lottery took in a little over $41.1 million, but paid out less than $8.4 million for scholarships — about 20% of the Lottery’s gross revenue for the month.

So far this fiscal year, the Arkansas Lottery has given student less than 18 cents out of every dollar it has made.

Nationwide, the typical state lottery pays out about 30% of its revenue to education.

Below is a breakdown of the Arkansas Lottery’s income and scholarship funds so far this fiscal year.

Month Gross Lottery Revenue Paid to Scholarships % Gross Revenue
July $42,413,352.70 $5,066,628.73 11.9%
August 40,343,279.62 6,175,998.40 15.3%
September 35,198,809.72 7,783,450.82 22.1%
October 57,575,285.62 11,259,040.31 19.6%
November 37,700,016.00 6,821,411.01 18.1%
December 45,859,642.73 6,650,791.54 14.5%
January,2019 40,574,813.28 7,848,495.62 19.3%
February 41,060,111.75 8,198,257.31 20.0%
March 51,988,380.67 8,552,307.04 16.5%
April 43,951,257.94 8,176,383.34 18.6%
May 41,158,346.08 8,396,193.42 20.4%
Total $477,823,296.11 $84,928,957.54 17.8%

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Racing Commission Approves Quapaw Casino in Pine Bluff

Gambling,

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports the state Racing Commission approved a proposal this week for the Quapaw Nation of Oklahoma to build a casino in Pine Bluff.

The commission also reportedly rejected five bids to build casinos in Russellville — including a proposal by the Cherokee Nation Business of Catoosa, Oklahoma.

Last year the Quapaw Tribe and Cherokee Nation spent millions of dollars passing a state constitutional amendment authorizing four casinos in Arkansas.

The amendment makes Oaklawn in Hot Springs and Southland in West Memphis full-fledged casinos, and it lets the Racing Commission authorize two other casinos to operate in Jefferson County and Pope County respectively.

The amendment was written in such a way that wealthy casino corporations already operating out-of-state have an easier time meeting the criteria for running a casino in Arkansas.

As we’ve written before, counties with gambling in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Mississippi continue to struggle with poverty, despite promises that casinos can be an economic boon.

Photo By Ralf Roletschek [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons.

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