We Beat the Arkansas Lottery – For Now
Early this morning the state legislature did what no one has done in the past five years: They told the Arkansas Lottery “No.”
The Lottery Commission has gotten its way on virtually every major decision since the spring of 2009. Many lawmakers have been reluctant to regulate the Lottery, because they were all assured the best way to make the Lottery successful was to give the Lottery Commission as much leeway as possible.
All that changed when Lottery Commissioners openly defied the will of the legislators by voting to roll out lottery “monitor games” this fall. These games—which operate like Keno, a popular casino game, and bingo—would be installed and played across the state.
Several years ago a state lawmaker told me that his rides home from Little Rock on the weekends were always a little depressing; he would pass his neighbors’ houses on his way into town, and he would reflect on how the votes he cast and the things he stood for that week hadn’t always reflected how the folks back home would have wanted him to act. How sad a situation. Encouragement, especially for a politician, can be difficult to give at times. However, the Apostle Paul tells Timothy to pray “for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Tim 2:2).