LITTLE ROCK — A record Powerball jackpot boosted Arkansas Lottery ticket sales last month by $2.8 million over November 2011 to $39.3 million.
It’s the first month in fiscal year 2013 that year-to year sales have increased. The fiscal year started July 1.
The Powerball jackpot that reached $587.5 million also helped increase the amount that the lottery raised for college scholarships last month by about $450,000 over year-ago figures to $8.4 million, said lottery Director Bishop Woosley.
But the lottery’s ticket sales of $171.6 million during the first five months of fiscal 2013 are $15.4 million less than in 2012, according to Woosley.
And the $35.6 million raised by the lottery for scholarships so far in fiscal 2013 is $2.1 million less than in 2012, he said.
Last month, Woosley told lawmakers that they “are probably safe to assume” that the lottery will raise “somewhere in the $89 million-$90 million range” for college scholarships in the fiscal year that ends June 30 “if the sales trends continue to hold as they have over the next seven months.”
Earlier this year, Woosley projected that the lottery would have ticket sales of $480.5 million, raising $98.5 million for college scholarships in fiscal 2013. In 2012, the lottery had ticket sales totaling $473 million, generating $97.5 million for scholarships
In a related development Monday, Arkansas’ lottery announced that the lottery’s total contribution to scholarships surpassed $300 million at the end of last month. The lottery started selling tickets on Sept. 28, 2009, and said it has raised an average of $7.9 million a month for scholarships. Then-Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, who helped persuade voters to authorize the creation of state lotteries, had estimated in 2008 that the lottery would raise about $100 million a year for scholarships.
The state Department of Finance and Administration, which works for Gov. Mike Beebe, estimated that the lottery would raise about $55 million a year for scholarships.
Halter’s estimate ended up being nearly dead-on.
Former lottery Director Ernie Passailaigue once projected net lottery proceeds as high as $116 million in fiscal 2011 before he scaled back his projection.
November’s higher ticket sales come as the Legislature’s lottery oversight committee is considering possible cuts in the size of the largely lottery-financed Academic Challenge scholarships for first-time recipients of the scholarships in the 2013-14 school year.
The committee is to meet next week. Its members have warned for a year that scholarship cuts might be necessary.
Last month, the acting director of the state Department of Higher Education warned that the scholarship program will “go into the red and ... never come back” if the scholarships for new recipients aren’t cut back sharply soon.
Interim Director Shane Broadway said the Legislature could decide to award first-time recipients of scholarships in the coming school year $3,300 a year at four year universities and $1,650 a year at two-year colleges.
During the first four months of fiscal 2013, Woosley has said high gas prices and the summer drought, among other things, hurt ticket sales.
While last month’s total ticket sales of $39.3 million exceeded sales in November 2011 by about $2.8 million, last month’s scratch-off ticket sales of $28.1 million lagged scratch-off ticket sales in November 2011 by $2.6 million, according to Woosley.
But last month’s numbers game ticket sales of $11.2 million exceeded numbers game sales in November 2011 by $5.5 million. That included $8.2 million in Powerball sales last month, compared to $3 million in November 2011.
Woosley said the lottery’s increased sales last month were fueled largely by the large Powerball jackpot.
As to whether the increase in ticket sales in November is an aberration or the start of more robust ticket sales, that is difficult to determine, he said.
“But we are hopeful that the remainder of the year will see sales increases in both [scratch-off and numbers game] tickets,” Woosley said. “Spring is right around the corner and is a key time period for lottery sales.”
He said he hopes to see one or two more of these large jackpots before the end of fiscal 2013.
Currently, students who were first awarded Academic Challenge scholarships in the 2010-11 school year receive$5,000 a year to attend the universities and $2,500 a year at the two-year colleges. Lawmakers have said they intend for these students to receive those amounts through their senior year as along as they continue to qualify for the scholarships.
Those who were first awarded the scholarships in either the 2011-12 or 2012-13 school years get $4,500 a year at the universities and $2,250 a year at the two-year colleges. Lawmakers have said they want these students to receive those amounts through their senior year as long as they qualify for the scholarship.
More than 90,000 students have been awarded scholarships during the past three years.
Rep. Mark Perry, D-Jacksonville, co-chairman of the Legislature’s oversight committee, said Monday that the oversight committee next week could recommend the Legislature cut the size of the scholarship for first-time recipients to between $3,300 and $3,500 a year at the four year universities, and $1,650 to $1,750 at the two-year colleges.
Committee Co-Chairman Sen. Johnny Key, R-Mountain Home, and Perry said there isn’t a consensus on the committee to recommend changing the scholarships levels to a tiered system.
Key has proposed giving incoming students $2,000 scholarships in their freshman years, $3,000 in their sophomore years, $4,000 in their junior years and $5,000 in their senior years.
Beebe “favors altering the scholarship amounts over changing scholarship criteria,” said Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample. But he said the governor isn’t “supporting a specific number or range for amounts at this point” or basing the scholarship amount on the number of credits that students have successfully completed.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/11/2012