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Arkansas Lottery sales could exceed estimates

Submitted by The City Wire staff on Mon, 11/16/2009 - 5:45pm.

Projections for lottery sales in Arkansas were set liberally during the legislative debate at $400 million, and that number was scoffed at by skeptics. But could lottery sales in Arkansas easily eclipse $500 million?

That’s the question asked by Roby Brock, a content partner with The City Wire, at TalkBusiness.net.

The Arkansas Scholarship Lottery staff announced Monday (Nov. 16) record weekly sales of lottery tickets since the launch on Sept. 28. Sales from Nov. 9 to Nov. 15 totaled $10.89 million. Instant ticket revenue accounted for roughly 88% of sales, and Powerball tickets have produced the rest.

“In just seven short weeks we have generated almost $70 million in lottery sales,” Ernie Passailaigue, Arkansas Scholarship lottery executive director, said in a statement. “We are excited for the thousands of Arkansas students who will be the beneficiaries of the lottery scholarships next fall.”

When examined on a daily average, lottery ticket sales per day is averaging about $1,425,000.

Take those weekly and daily numbers out over the course of a year and you’re looking at sales of between $520.1 million and $566.4 million, far higher than estimates.



Approximately 26% may ultimately shake out for lottery scholarship funding. Based on the revenue averages that could land between $135.2 million and $147.3 million for scholarships.

Link here for the complete report from TalkBusiness.net.