Cutting Through the Lottery Spin

Arkansas Lottery

If there’s one thing gambling proponents are good at, it’s spinning the facts. “Somebody’s Gonna Win,” is a common slogan stamped on casinos all over America, but there’s another side to that coin: “Almost everyone is going to lose.” How many casinos do you see with that on the marquee? And yet it’s 100% true.

The same goes for state lotteries. On Tuesday, an article appeared in the Paragould Daily Press highlighting a lot of the “pros” of Arkansas’ own lottery (you can see a PDF of the article here). Well, I think there may be a little fact-spinning being done by the folks at the Lottery Commission, and I want to take a moment to be sure everyone gets both sides of the argument.

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The Arkansas Lottery: Do Debit Cards Lead to Online Ticket Sales?

Arkansas Lottery

There’s been a lot of talk about the Arkansas Lottery changing the way it sells lottery tickets. Most recently, the new lottery director has been kicking around the idea of letting people purchase lottery tickets via debit card, which he told KTHV is “essentially electronic cash.” So why is that a big deal? Well, let me explain.

Arkansas law currently states that lottery tickets may only be sold for cash—no “deferred” payment, like check or credit cards. Here’s the problem: That little clause in the law is the only thing standing between the lottery and online ticket sales.

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