Lottery Gives Less than 19% to Scholarships Second Month in a Row

Arkansas Lottery

For the second month in a row this year, the Arkansas Lottery allocated less than 19% of gross revenue for scholarships. This comes as the Arkansas Lottery transitions from the purview of the Arkansas Lottery Commission to the Department of Finance and Administration.

Below is a breakdown of lottery revenue for Fiscal Year 2015:

Month Gross Lottery Revenue Paid to Scholarships % Gross Revenue
July $30,925,067.43 $5,928,447.99 19.2%
August 31,571,412.10 5,296,965.80 16.8%
September 30,710,493.31 4,317,227.10 14.1%
October 32,959,739.29 5,939,625.59 18.0%
November 30,617,278.28 5,577,035.16 18.2%
December 34,507,731.54 5,474,318.77 15.9%
January, 2015 35,433,619.67 7,287,773.28 20.6%
February 41,770,314.46 6,161,343.01 14.8%
March 37,367,453.25 6,898,524.35 18.5%
Total $305,863,109.33 $52,881,261.05 17.3%

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Legislators Abolish Lottery Commission, Bring Lottery Under DF&A

Arkansas Lottery,

Yesterday, lawmakers passed a bill abolishing the Arkansas Lottery Commission and making the Lottery part of the Department of Finance and Administration.

When the Arkansas Legislature established the Arkansas Lottery Commission in 2009, they made it an independent state agency with its own commissioners and very little outside accountability.

As a result, Arkansas has rolled out more gambling more quickly than any other state lottery we know; we have seen Lottery officials paid exorbitant salaries while college scholarships funded by the Lottery declined.

Senate Bill 7 brings more accountability to the Lottery by disbanding the Lottery Commission and making the Arkansas Lottery answerable to the Department of Finance and Administration as well as the Governor’s Office.

The bill passed unanimously in the Arkansas Senate two weeks ago, and it passed overwhelmingly in the Arkansas House yesterday.

It now goes to Governor Hutchinson, who has said he will sign it.

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Lottery Finally Gives More than 20% of Gross Revenue for Scholarships

Arkansas Lottery

We have written over and over again about how the Arkansas Lottery continues to reach new lows in funding for scholarships. This week the lottery released its figures for January.

The report shows that the Arkansas Lottery took in almost $35.5 million in January and paid out almost $7.3 million for scholarships. That comes to about 20.6% of gross revenue.

However, in looking at the report, it appears the only way the Arkansas Lottery was able to come up with $7.3 million for scholarships was by pulling $1.6 million out of reserve. According to its financial statements, the Lottery had roughly $5.7 million in net proceeds for scholarships at the end of the month–which is roughly on par with what it has set aside for scholarships the past few months; by pulling an additional $1.6 million from its reserves, the Arkansas Lottery was able to pay out a little more for scholarships.

Month Gross Lottery Revenue Paid to Scholarships % Gross Revenue
July $30,925,067.43 $5,928,447.99 19.2%
August 31,571,412.10 5,296,965.80 16.8%
September 30,710,493.31 4,317,227.10 14.1%
October 32,959,739.29 5,939,625.59 18.0%
November 30,617,278.28 5,577,035.16 18.2%
December 34,507,731.54 5,474,318.77 15.9%
January, 2015 35,433,619.67 7,287,773.28 20.6%
Total $226,725,341.62 $39,821,393.69 17.6%

Setting aside almost twenty-one cents for scholarships from every dollar the Lottery made in January is nothing to brag about–Louisiana sets aside 35% by law–but it’s an improvement over the some of the figures we have seen since last summer, and it’s almost as good as some of the numbers we have seen from the Lottery in years past.

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