State Lottery Spends One-Fourth as Much on Students as Prizes
The Arkansas Lottery wrapped up its fiscal year on June 31, 2020.
According to reports the state released on Friday, the Lottery budgeted four times as much money for prizes as it did for college scholarships.
The Arkansas Lottery spent a little less than $89.5 million on scholarships — about 16.8% of its total revenue for the fiscal year
However, the Arkansas Lottery budgeted nearly $370 million for prizes — about 69.5% of its revenue.
For perspective, the typical state lottery spends about 30% of its revenue on education and about 60% on prizes paid out to lottery players.
Because the Arkansas Lottery budgets so much money for prizes and so little for education, the Lottery has failed to live up to its promise to provide $100 million per year in funding for college scholarships.
Had the Arkansas Lottery structured its budget more like most states, it probably would have provided millions more in scholarship funding.
Below is a breakdown of lottery revenue, scholarship funding, and prize payouts for Fiscal Year 2020.
Scholarship Spending
| Month | Gross Lottery Revenue | Paid to Scholarships | % Gross Revenue |
| July | $41,239,173.79 | $4,523,930.75 | 11.0% |
| August | 40,899,086.75 | 4,942,736.97 | 12.1% |
| September | 36,202,677.79 | 6,565,973.32 | 18.1% |
| October | 38,932,640.23 | 6,318,099.21 | 16.2% |
| November | 36,118,641.12 | 5,947,177.45 | 16.5% |
| December | 46,134,469.21 | 6,371,983.49 | 13.8% |
| January, 2020 | 40,802,067.75 | 8,239,083.77 | 20.2% |
| February | 40,670,746.71 | 7,233,556.77 | 17.8% |
| March | 47,876,969.85 | 7,386,497.30 | 15.4% |
| April | 49,549,754.16 | 8,318,312.64 | 16.8% |
| May | 61,129,306.96 | 8,619,106.39 | 14.1% |
| June | 52,445,625.46 | 14,984,463.18 | 28.6% |
| Total | $532,001,159.78 | $89,450,921.24 | 16.8% |
Prize Allocation
| Month | Gross Lottery Revenue | Total Prizes | % Going to Prizes |
| July | $41,239,173.79 | $27,395,174.44 | 66.4% |
| August | 40,899,086.75 | 27,981,278.90 | 68.4% |
| September | 36,202,677.79 | 25,380,100.69 | 70.1% |
| October | 38,932,640.23 | 26,836,578.14 | 68.9% |
| November | 36,118,641.12 | 24,593,530.95 | 68.1% |
| December | 46,134,469.21 | 32,772,295.09 | 71.0% |
| January, 2020 | 40,802,067.75 | 27,636,240.24 | 67.7% |
| February | 40,670,746.71 | 28,772,455.23 | 70.7% |
| March | 47,876,969.85 | 33,400,886.92 | 69.8% |
| April | 49,549,754.16 | 35,431,849.03 | 71.5% |
| May | 61,129,306.96 | 42,848,771.82 | 70.1% |
| June | 52,445,625.46 | 36,553,760.70 | 69.7% |
| Total | $532,001,159.78 | $369,602,922.15 | 69.5% |
