Tag: Arkansas Lottery

Lottery a Net Loss for Arkansas Counties

From September of 2009 to April 30 of this year, Arkansans spent over $1.2 billion on lottery tickets. That is an almost unimaginable amount of money.

In 31 months, Arkansans spent over a billion dollars. That averages out to nearly $40 million every single month, or about $15 per second!

Think about that. On average, in one second the Arkansas Lottery takes in more money than many of its customers do in an entire hour. We have stated over and over again that we believe the lottery is played by those who can least afford to spend money on lottery tickets, and that the lottery itself preys on the poor. Well, let’s look at the numbers one more time.

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Arkansas Lottery Auditor Resigns

Back in March, the lottery’s internal auditor, Michael Hyde, raised questions about the validity of a contract between the lottery and Scientific Games. Hyde discovered that former lottery director Ernie Passailaigue had unilaterally amended the contract without going through the proper channels. This has cost Arkansas more than $7 million.

Now the same auditor who discovered this mismanagement by Passailaigue has resigned. At this point, it isn’t known why Hyde has quit his job, however, it appears that he was doing his job very well. Let’s hope his replacement is just as capable.

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