Bill Prohibiting Lottery Ticket Vending Machines Needs Your Support

Arkansas Lottery, Legislature

SB867 by Senator Madison would prohibit lottery ticket vending machines in Arkansas. It has already passed the Arkansas Senate, and is on its way to the House Rules Committee. The committee could vote on it as early as tomorrow. If it passes, it will go to the entire House of Representatives for a vote.

This is a good bill, and it needs a lot of support from Arkansans. Please call your representative, and ask him or her to support SB867 if and when it comes up for a vote. You can leave a message for your representative at the Capitol by calling (501) 682-6211.

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More Lottery Stats Under HJR1005

Arkansas Lottery,

HJR1005 by Rep. Clemmer is expected to come up in the Legislature very soon. Under her proposed constitutional amendment, the Arkansas Lottery would be required to allocate at least 35% of its revenue for college scholarships instead of the paltry 21.5% it currently does.

Setting a minimum of 35% would raise Arkansas from almost dead last when it comes to percentages allocated for its lottery’s intended purpose, but that hasn’t stopped lottery officials from arguing that setting a minimum allocation will adversely affect lottery revenue–meaning less gross revenue for the Arkansas Lottery and less money for scholarships overall.

Yesterday, we busted that myth by demonstrating that the Arkansas Lottery could provide more scholarships under HJR1005 than it currently does–even if it suffered as much as a $185 million drop in ticket sales. Here’s a table of additional lottery stats showing how much money the Arkansas Lottery could give Arkansas’ college-bound students, based on different revenue predictions, if HJR1005 passes.

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Under HJR1005, Lottery Could Take in Less, Pay Out More

Arkansas Lottery, ,

A couple of weeks ago we wrote a blog post about how much money the typical lottery player is spending on lottery tickets in Arkansas. We’ve also written extensively about Rep. Clemmer’s amendment requiring the Arkansas Lottery to allocate at least 35% of its revenue for scholarships—currently the Lottery only pays out about 21.5%.  We also told you about Louisiana’s lottery, which brought in about $100 million less in 2010 than Arkansas’ lottery did during its first 12 months, but still paid out almost $30 million more for education than Arkansas did for scholarships.  Here are a few follow-up stats on what Arkansas can expect if it follows in Louisiana’s footsteps by enacting Rep. Clemmer’s amendment.

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