Arkansas Lottery’s Prize Budget Four Times Larger Than Its Scholarship Budget
The Arkansas Lottery’s prize budget for lottery players is more than four times larger than its budget for college scholarships, a new report indicates.
The Arkansas Lottery’s financial report for the month of October shows since July 1 the Arkansas Lottery has spent nearly $134.1 million on prizes, but it has spent less than $32.6 million on students.
All told, only about 17% of the Arkansas Lottery’s budget actually funds college scholarships, but nearly 71% of its budget pays for prizes for lottery players.
As we have written repeatedly, the typical state-run lottery budgets approximately 60% of its revenue for prizes and 30% for education.
The Arkansas Lottery could pay millions of dollars more to scholarships if it simply would reduce its prize budget and raise its scholarship budget — plain and simple.
Below is a breakdown of Lottery revenue and prize spending since Fiscal Year 2021 began on July 1.
Scholarship Spending
| Month | Gross Lottery Revenue | Paid to Scholarships | % Gross Revenue |
| July | $49,780,369.99 | $8,592,573.93 | 17.3% |
| August | 49,672,105.04 | 7,862,917.44 | 15.8% |
| September | 47,501,224.72 | 7,691,576.99 | 16.2% |
| October | 42,615,839.96 | 8,447,337.00 | 19.8% |
| Total | $189,569,539.71 | $32,594,405.36 | 17.2% |
Prize Spending
| Month | Gross Lottery Revenue | Total Prizes | % Going to Prizes |
| July | 49,780,369.99 | 35,641,717.48 | 71.6% |
| August | 49,672,105.04 | 35,023,856.83 | 70.5% |
| September | 47,501,224.72 | 33,422,556.14 | 70.4% |
| October | 42,615,839.96 | 29,995,072.50 | 70.4% |
| Total | 189,569,539.71 | 134,083,202.95 | 70.7% |
