Lottery Spends 16% of Revenue on Education, 71% on Prizes
On Friday the Arkansas Lottery released its financial report for the month of August.
The report indicates the state-run lottery made nearly $49.7 million last month, but budgeted less than $7.9 million for scholarships — about 15.8% of the Lottery’s revenue.
However, the Arkansas Lottery spent 70.5% of its money on prizes for lottery players in August; in July, 71.6% of the Lottery’s revenue went to prizes.
As we have written many times, the Arkansas Lottery spends an inordinate amount of money on prizes, compared to most state lotteries.
The average state lottery spends about 60% of its budget on prizes and 30% on education.
The Arkansas Lottery could provide millions of dollars more in scholarship funding every year if it would rework its budget to spend less on prizes and more on students.
Below is a breakdown of lottery revenue, scholarship spending, and prizes since the state’s new fiscal year began last July.
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% |
| Total | $99,452,475.03 | $16,455,491.37 | 16.5% |
Prize Allocation
| 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% |
| Total | $99,452,475.03 | $70,665,574.31 | 71.1% |
