Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, who led the campaign to establish a state lottery to fund scholarships, visited Town Hall Wednesday to talk about the lottery and its expected impact on the state.
He said he started the campaign three years ago, when a “significant amount” of people doubted that “we could pull this off.” He said two things made him choose to push for a state lottery. First, “I saw students that really needed additional funds” to go to college, and also because the state was losing “millions of dollars” to lottery sales across state lines.
In the general election in November, citizens in the state voted “almost exactly” 2-1 in favor of the lottery.
At the beginning of what he called a “lonely” campaign, no one was willing to step up in favor of a lottery — only 17 of 135 state legislators backed his proposal, he said. The day after the election, however, “I couldn’t find a single one opposed” to it. The measure passed unanimously in the General Assembly, but then Halter found himself lonely again after legislators and their constituents showed contempt at the high salaries that came with hiring a team to operate a lottery. That team, however, “started the lottery in record time in any of the 43 states with a lottery,” Halter said.
One month has passed since the lottery began, and more than $40 million in tickets have been sold, booking $10 million in scholarships. When the state produces $100 million in scholarship funds, he said, there will be a scholarship for every student in the state who graduates high school with a 2.5 GPA or scores a 19 on the ACT, allowing each student “almost full tuition” for college.
He said to the opposition of a lottery: “Now it’s done. We need to gather around the idea that every Arkansan who works hard and plays by the rules will have” scholarship money. He said income is expected to increase for Arkansan families because there will be a boost in percentage of college graduates in the work force.
Halter then answered questions about tuition increases, funding for non-traditional students and graduate studies, and retention.
On tuition increases, he said that “everyone is demanding that not happen” and that the money from net lottery sales can only be spent on scholarships. He said that, in order for halt colleges from raising tuition, people must “speak loudly” to administrators and trustees against increases.
As for non-traditional students, there should be money “set aside in a pot for them,” but their eligibility requirements will be more complicated than traditional students. It will be based on GPAs while they were in high school and any time they may have spent in college before.
Halter said funding graduate studies is “possible” under the constitution — if there are sufficient funds.
Lottery scholarships are also “stackable,” meaning that a lottery scholarship can be accompanied by pell grants or other scholarships. But the lottery will not fund any more money needed for tuition, so as not to pay students to go to college, he said. Students receiving the lottery scholarship must also maintain a 2.5 GPA while in college and take enough classes each semester to graduate “on time.”
He answered a question about the salaries paid to man the lottery. For each $1 ticket sold, 60 cents goes to prizes; 25-26 cents goes to the scholarship fund; 6.5 cents goes to the retailer selling the tickets; 5-6 cents goes to the companies that manufacture the tickets; and 4 cents or less goes to administrative salaries. Also, 1 cent goes to advertising costs.
There is a nine-person, unpaid commission that acts as a board of directors, all of whom are appointed. Three are appointed by the governor, three by the speaker of the house and three by the president pro tem. Every two years, three positions will be eligible for re-appointment, depending on which officials are up for re-election or whose term limit has expired.