Tag: Arkansas Lottery

Arkansas Lottery Spent $11K on Travel Since July 1

The Arkansas Lottery has spent more than $11,000 reimbursing employees for mileage expenses since July 1, according to the state’s transparency website.

State employees receive 42 cents for every mile they travel on state business in their personal vehicles.

Some lottery employees already have received upwards of $800 – $900 for their mileage in the past month or so.

All told, these mileage reimbursements imply that Arkansas Lottery employees have traveled more than 26,000 miles on official business since July 1.

Earlier this year our office obtained documents from the Arkansas Lottery showing that mileage reimbursements appear to go primarily to staff members who travel around the state to gas stations and other outlets where lottery tickets are sold.

The Arkansas Lottery probably could save a lot of money by having employees travel in official state vehicles instead of paying them to drive their own cars.

Unfortunately, saving money and being fiscally responsible isn’t something the Lottery Office seems interested in doing.

Photo Credit: Airtuna08 at English Wikipedia [CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)]

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State Lottery Spends One-Fourth as Much on Students as Prizes

The Arkansas Lottery wrapped up its fiscal year on June 31, 2020.

According to reports the state released on Friday, the Lottery budgeted four times as much money for prizes as it did for college scholarships.

The Arkansas Lottery spent a little less than $89.5 million on scholarships — about 16.8% of its total revenue for the fiscal year

However, the Arkansas Lottery budgeted nearly $370 million for prizes — about 69.5% of its revenue.

For perspective, the typical state lottery spends about 30% of its revenue on education and about 60% on prizes paid out to lottery players.

Because the Arkansas Lottery budgets so much money for prizes and so little for education, the Lottery has failed to live up to its promise to provide $100 million per year in funding for college scholarships.

Had the Arkansas Lottery structured its budget more like most states, it probably would have provided millions more in scholarship funding.

Below is a breakdown of lottery revenue, scholarship funding, and prize payouts for Fiscal Year 2020.

Scholarship Spending

Month	Gross Lottery Revenue	Paid to Scholarships	% Gross Revenue
July	$41,239,173.79	$4,523,930.75	11.0%
August	40,899,086.75	4,942,736.97	12.1%
September	36,202,677.79	6,565,973.32	18.1%
October	38,932,640.23	6,318,099.21	16.2%
November	36,118,641.12	5,947,177.45	16.5%
December	46,134,469.21	6,371,983.49	13.8%
January, 2020	40,802,067.75	8,239,083.77	20.2%
February	40,670,746.71	7,233,556.77	17.8%
March	47,876,969.85	7,386,497.30	15.4%
April	49,549,754.16	8,318,312.64	16.8%
May	61,129,306.96	8,619,106.39	14.1%
June	52,445,625.46	14,984,463.18	28.6%
Total	$532,001,159.78	$89,450,921.24	16.8%

Prize Allocation

Month	Gross Lottery Revenue	Total Prizes	% Going to Prizes
July	$41,239,173.79	$27,395,174.44	66.4%
August	40,899,086.75	27,981,278.90	68.4%
September	36,202,677.79	25,380,100.69	70.1%
October	38,932,640.23	26,836,578.14	68.9%
November	36,118,641.12	24,593,530.95	68.1%
December	46,134,469.21	32,772,295.09	71.0%
January, 2020	40,802,067.75	27,636,240.24	67.7%
February	40,670,746.71	28,772,455.23	70.7%
March	47,876,969.85	33,400,886.92	69.8%
April	49,549,754.16	35,431,849.03	71.5%
May	61,129,306.96	42,848,771.82	70.1%
June	52,445,625.46	36,553,760.70	69.7%
Total	$532,001,159.78	$369,602,922.15	69.5%

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State Lottery Keeps Rolling Out New Scratch-Off Tickets

On Tuesday the Arkansas Lottery rolled out five new scratch-off tickets that sell for anywhere from $2 to $10 each.

Unlike some state lotteries, the Arkansas Lottery relies very heavily on scratch-off tickets for revenue.

As we have written before, scratch-off tickets are controversial, because they are tied to problem gambling and gambling addiction.

A 2015 study in Canada described them as “paper slot machines.” 

A 2018 study published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions found a link between how often a person played scratch-off tickets and the severity of a person’s gambling problem.

Expensive scratch-off tickets — like the Lottery’s new $10 ticket — are particularly controversial, because they prey on the poor and desperate by offering long odds on big jackpots.

People who spend $10 on a single scratch-off ticket lose their money two-thirds of the time.

The Arkansas Lottery has a history of rolling out new lottery games more regularly than any other state lottery we know.

From the start, the state-run lottery has used a steady stream of new games and expensive marketing campaigns to bolster sales and entice people to buy lottery tickets.

As long as the Arkansas Lottery continues to operate this way, it will keep preying on the poor and desperate, and the Lottery’s scholarship funding will remain low.

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