Family advocates protest Arkansas lottery

Peggy Harris

Friday, Dec. 13, 2002 | 9:52 a.m.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- As legislators ponder where to find millions more dollars for Arkansas' public schools, an advocacy group for children and families spoke Thursday against using lotteries as a source.

Rich Huddleston, research and fiscal policy director for Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, said a lottery would be an unreliable source of revenue for education and other state programs. In addition, he said, it would hurt Arkansas' poorest and create a harmful environment for children.

"We're very concerned," Huddleston said of talk about lotteries in light of the Arkansas Supreme Court decision last month that state funding for schools was unfair and inadequate.

The group's eight-page report of its study on lotteries estimates a lottery in Arkansas would generate about $169.4 million a year in sales and $47.5 million in net tax revenues for the state.

But Huddleston noted that education experts have said the state might need as much as $1 billion more to address court concerns over school funding, and said the gain from a lottery would be canceled out by the negative effects.

Thirty-seven states have lotteries, but Arkansans have voted down lotteries and casino gambling twice in the last six years.

Huddleston said that because of different circumstances in each state, a lottery in Arkansas would not work the same as lotteries elsewhere.

"Compared to many states with high lottery yields, Arkansas is poorer, has a lower population base, and has more conservative attitudes about gambling," the study says.

The study uses three surrounding states that have lotteries and six states similar to Arkansas in population and economy that also have lotteries to determine how a lottery would fare in Arkansas.

In general, it says sales tax revenues would decline and personal income taxes would increase with a lottery.

According to the study, the poorest 20 percent of taxpayers account for 16 percent of total lottery spending and "this population would be hurt disproportionately by the creation of a lottery."