Below you’ll find an interesting video from Today’s THV discussing how many cases of problem and addictive gambling have been reported to the Arkansas Department of Human Services. In light of this story, however, I do have at least one question: How many unreported cases of problem gambling and gambling addiction are there in Arkansas?
Last Sunday, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette featured a news story about the Arkansas Lottery’s decision to only allocate approximately 21.5% of its revenue for college scholarships.
The fact is, as we’ve pointed out before, Arkansas’ lottery—whose foundational purpose is supposed to be providing college scholarships—is paying less than 22-cents on the dollar toward scholarships. That puts Arkansas’ lottery at the 4th lowest in the nation when it comes to revenue allocated for education.
Arkansas Lottery Director Ernie Passailaigue defends Arkansas’ position by stating that allocating a larger percentage of revenue for scholarships would require them to pay out less money in prizes, and that paying out prizes is what makes people play the lottery. So ensuring there are plenty of prizes is the key to scholarship revenue. But there are two huge problems with his logic.
With all the talk about lottery ticket vending machines, you’re probably wondering where they might pop up in your community. Based on comments made by lottery officials, we have a pretty good idea about potential machine locations and places that you probably won’t see them.