Arkansas Lottery Rolls Out More Scratch-Off Games

Arkansas Lottery

Last week the Arkansas Lottery rolled out four new lines of scratch-off tickets selling for anywhere from $1 to $10 each.

We have written time and again about how scratch-off tickets prey on the poor and desperate.

A 2015 study in Canada found a link between problem gambling and instant lottery tickets, writing,

It is possible that problem gamblers are more attracted to instant win tickets than lottery tickets because instant win tickets provide immediate feedback. Some authors have even described instant win tickets as “paper slot machines” (Griffiths, 2002). Therefore, instant win tickets might be considered a more exciting form of lottery gambling, which may help explain why it attracts a different type of gambler than [ordinary] lottery tickets do. 

A 2018 study published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions also found a link between how often a person played scratch-off tickets and the severity of a person’s gambling problem.

Despite all of this, the Arkansas Lottery continues to roll out new scratch-off tickets every month and budgets nearly 71% of its revenue for prizes in an ongoing effort to prop up lottery ticket sales.

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Arkansas Lottery Spends Another $13,000 on Mileage Reimbursements for Employees

Arkansas Lottery

Since the beginning of November, the Arkansas Lottery has reported another $13,000 in mileage reimbursements for its employees, and $68,198.73 since since the fiscal year started on July 1, according to information on the state’s transparency website.

State employees receive 42 cents for every mile they travel on state business in their personal vehicles; some employees at the Arkansas Lottery average hundreds of dollars every month in reimbursement for their mileage.

Altogether, the Arkansas Lottery has paid its employees for nearly 32,500 miles of travel every single month, on average, since the beginning of Fiscal Year 2021.

As we have written many times, the Arkansas Lottery probably could save a lot of money by using state vehicles for travel instead of paying employees to drive their personal vehicles — or by finding ways to reduce travel in general.

Photo Credit: Airtuna08 at English Wikipedia [CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)]

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Second Hate Crimes Bill Filed at Arkansas Legislature

Legislature, ,

On Wednesday Rep. Fred Love (D — Little Rock) pre-filed a second hate crimes bill at the Arkansas Legislature: H.B. 1020.

The bill is virtually identical to S.B. 3 by Sen. Jim Hendren (R — Gravette) and Rep. Fred Love enacting hate crimes legislation in Arkansas.

Family Council has opposed hate crimes legislation for more than 25 years.

These bills write special protections into state law for groups of people based on sexual-orientation, gender-identity, and other characteristics.

These laws simply do not work. Data from the FBI indicates that they don’t protect people, and violent hate crimes have continued to occur in states with laws like these on the books.

Hate crimes laws promote unequal justice, and they can carry serious, unintended consequences. Ultimately, these laws end up punishing people for their speech and their beliefs instead of simply punishing them for their actions.

That’s part of the reason groups like the Washington County Republican Committee have issued statements opposing hate crimes legislation in Arkansas.

Arkansans can sign a letter opposing hate crimes legislation. A copy of the letter and the names of those who sign it will be published and shared with state legislators and others.

Family Council will continue to oppose hate crimes measures like S.B. 3. and H.B. 1020. This legislation was a bad idea 25 years ago, and it’s still a bad idea today.

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