As I wrote yesterday, today at 2 p.m, the members of the House and Senate State Agencies Committees met to talk about repealing the enabling legislation that set up Arkansas’ state-run lottery. Despite no legislative action being taken (there weren’t enough lawmakers present), I thought the meeting went very well.
At 2 p.m. on Wednesday the members of the House and Senate State Agencies Committees will meet to talk about repealing the enabling legislation that set up state-run lottery. What goes on in Room 151 of the State Capitol in Little Rock isn’t likely to do anything to restrain Arkansas’ “out of control” State Lottery Commission—because they can’t. Why? Because last spring the Arkansas Legislature gave away its control of the lottery when they unanimously approved legislation to implement state-run lotteries.
Lottery tickets have been on sale in Arkansas for less than two months, and already we’ve seen a sharp spike in the variety of tickets being sold.
Most people who watch the news or read the paper have probably seen stories about Powerball. What aren’t getting as much attention are the new scratch-off tickets being sold or the Lottery Commission’s plans to keep expanding the ways in which Arkansans can be separated from their money.