FAYETTEVILLE — Come early Monday morning (12:01 a.m., to be exact) Arkansas will begin its transformation from one of thefew remaining states that don't allow lotteries into a state where games of chance are finally legal.
Since the presidential candidates never really bothered with Arkansas during the 2008 campaign season, you might recall that in these parts a good deal of last year was spent judging the worth of adding a lottery to our society. Some felt that backing this alleged vice (supporters prefer "entertainment") would mean removing cash from the pocketbooks of those residents who can least afford such habits, or could lead to a future where casinos dot our landscape.
But the ballot measure sailed through with almost two-thirds of voters giving their support to the controversial ballot measure. In this one vote, a ban on such games that had been a part of the Arkansas constitution since 1836 was overturned.
Following the November election, the General Assembly's hard work culminated in creation of the Arkansas Lottery Commission. In June, that group hired South Carolina's Ernie Passailaigue as our lottery's first executive director. When not defending his six-figure salary, Passailaigue has set about going through with one of the fastest lottery start-ups in history. At this point, a good many people seem genuinely excited to begin playing the odds.
Arkansas' lottery offers many potential positives. We have no doubt that when scratch-off tickets go on sale - to be followed by Powerball tickets on Oct. 31 - this state will enter into a new era.
Mind you, that's not just because millions of Arkansans will theoretically have the ability to become a millionaire each time they walk into a gas station; it's because a fair share of our children have so much to gain, to say nothing of the economic development this change potentially represents.
Projections about how much cash the lottery will raise for scholarships benefiting college-bound students all across Arkansas range from $55 million to $125 million. Even if this grand effort disappoints some of the sky-high expectations out there, it would still be responsible for creating hundreds of college scholarships - and, in any case, more than enough money to assist scores of young people seeking a quality education.
Helping tomorrow's leaders afford the continually growing price of education will always be a worthwhile investment.
Of course, making university life more affordable isn't the only thing the lottery is about, as economic investment is also a huge part of this story. Here in Northwest Arkansas, for example, where residents regularly trek to Missouri and Oklahoma to buy lotto tickets, supporting the lottery is that much more of a no-brainer. Instead of watching our residents spending their hard-earned dollars in neighboring states, we're going to finally start helping our kids get an education - and in the process, help our retailers and their employees pay their own bills.
Here in Fayetteville, at least 36 businesses have already been approved to sell lottery tickets; meanwhile, Washington County is home to more than four scores' worth of approved stores. All told, there are at least 1,729 locations across this state. By year's end, plenty of folks are going to be helping boost the prospects of retailers in every corner of this state - great news, we think, in the midst of a recession.
We know, we know. All the scholarships and booming businesses in the world don't fix things for the poor soul who goes broke playing the lottery. Perhaps, but we have no interest in preventing people from the right to exercise their own best judgment about where and when to play the odds.
Simply put, Arkansas had too much to lose from continuing to ignore the lottery. We're glad this day has finally come.
Opinion, Pages 4 on 09/26/2009