Arkansas Lottery Spends 19 Cents of Every Dollar on Scholarships in FY 2017

Arkansas Lottery

Today the Arkansas Lottery released its final monthly report for Fiscal Year 2017.

The report shows the Arkansas Lottery made a little over $38.5 million in June; of that money, roughly $6.8 million was spent on college scholarships. Nearly $6.4 million extra in scholarship funding came from the Lottery’s unclaimed prizes account, which is funded with prize money that is not claimed by lottery players.

June marks the end of Fiscal Year 2017 at the Arkansas Lottery. Since July of 2016, the Lottery has made nearly $450 million, but has spent less than $85.3 million on scholarships–roughly 19 cents of every dollar it made.

To put those numbers into perspective, the Louisiana Lottery is required by law to spend at least 35% of its revenue on education. As of March 31, 2017, the Louisiana Lottery had made nearly $342.2 million, and it had set aside more than $120 million for education.

Louisiana’s Lottery often makes less money than Arkansas’, but it pays out more for education, because Louisiana’s state law requires a minimum percentage of the Louisiana Lottery’s revenue to go to education. In Arkansas, however, students get whatever money is leftover after the Lottery has paid its other bills.

Below is a breakdown of the Arkansas Lottery’s figures for Fiscal Year 2017.

Month Gross Lottery Revenue Paid to Scholarships % Gross Revenue
July, 2016 38,237,293.92 8,714,386.39 22.8%
August 35,091,022.09 5,498,714.86 15.7%
September 33,113,391.64 5,773,076.42 17.4%
October 34,061,993.14 5,165,040.54 15.2%
November 37,042,079.72 6,570,979.51 17.7%
December 35,352,159.35 4,596,532.22 13.0%
January, 2017 37,062,291.39 7,947,546.21 21.4%
February 41,176,854.60 6,698,099.62 16.3%
March 43,405,541.56 6,204,704.75 14.3%
April 38,671,617.14 7,845,827.56 20.3%
May 38,185,263.61 7,068,770.18 18.5%
June 38,517,227.85 13,193,652.18 34.3%
Total $449,916,736.01 $85,277,330.44 19.0%

Photo Credit: Mega Millions lottery tickets, by msspider66.

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Legislature Begins Looking at Two Key Bills During the Interim

Legislature, , , , ,

This week the Arkansas Legislature moved forward with plans to look at two key pieces of legislation between now and 2019.

The first is S.B. 583 by Senator Joyce Elliott. The legislature will study the feasibility of requiring 25% of lottery proceeds to fund scholarships; reinstating the 2.5 GPA requirement to be eligible for scholarships; and having independent consultants for the Arkansas Lottery.

The second is S.B. 774, the privacy bill by Senator Linda Collins-Smith. This bill would have required a person using a public shower, locker room, restroom, or similar facility on government property to use the facility that corresponds to the biological sex listed on his or her original birth certificate. The legislature will study this issue in the months to come.

Lawmakers cannot pass these bills during the interim study period, but can research these issues, collect testimony, and present recommendations when the Arkansas Legislature reconvenes as a whole.

We are glad lawmakers have agreed to look at these two issues during the interim. The next step is to schedule meetings where experts, members of the public, and others can testify at the Capitol.

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Lottery Scholarship Revenue Drops in May

Arkansas Lottery

On Friday the Arkansas Lottery released its monthly financial report for May.

According to the report, the Arkansas Lottery took in over $38 million in May, but paid out roughly $7 million in scholarships–about 18 cents for every dollar it made.

Overall, Lottery revenue and scholarship funding have declined since April.

There’s simply no excuse for the Arkansas Lottery’s consistently low scholarship budget. If you would like to know the one thing the Arkansas Lottery could do to pay more to scholarships right now–even if lottery revenue dropped by tens of millions of dollars–click here.

Below is a breakdown of the Lottery’s financial figures for this fiscal year.

Month Gross Lottery Revenue Paid to Scholarships % Gross Revenue
July 38,237,293.92 8,714,386.39 22.8%
August 35,091,022.09 5,498,714.86 15.7%
September 33,113,391.64 5,773,076.42 17.4%
October 34,061,993.14 5,165,040.54 15.2%
November 37,042,079.72 6,570,979.51 17.7%
December 35,352,159.35 4,596,532.22 13.0%
January, 2017 37,062,291.39 7,947,546.21 21.4%
February 41,176,854.60 6,698,099.62 16.3%
March 43,405,541.56 6,204,704.75 14.3%
April 38,671,617.14 7,845,827.56 20.3%
May 38,185,263.61 7,068,770.18 18.5%
Total $411,399,508.16 $72,083,678.26 17.5%

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