The Arkansas Scholarship Lottery has meant millions for Sebastian County students and the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith since the lottery started Sept. 28, 2009, said Donna Bragg, the lottery’s director of advertising and marketing.
Bragg, who joined the lottery in March, spoke at the Southside Rotary Club of Fort Smith on Tuesday. She attempted to present a slide show of the lottery’s accomplishments and statistics but technological difficulties prevented that.
“This looks better when it’s up on a big screen,” Bragg joked after going over the lottery’s total sales figures for the past six-plus years.
Lottery Director Bishop Woosley gave a similar presentation at the Rotary Club of Little Rock earlier this month as lottery officials prepare to celebrate its seventh anniversary. Bragg reiterated figures including the 202,000-plus scholarships totaling about $692.8 million that have been awarded to Arkansas students. The money was generated by more than $3 billion in ticket sales since 2009.
In Sebastian County, Bragg said, 9,390 scholarships have been awarded to high school graduates. The total money awarded is slightly more than $35 million, she said.
“I like the fact that the Arkansas Lottery funds individuals as opposed to a fund,” Bragg said. “It’s very easy to see where the money goes with the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery. It goes to people like your grandchildren or my son or your neighbor’s daughter. It’s making a difference.”
The lottery generates money for scholarships — awarded by the state Legislature — for students to attend any of the state’s 51 colleges and universities. The University of Arkansas-Fort Smith has been the recipient of more than $45 million of that scholarship money, from students both inside and outside Sebastian County.
Bragg also said the lottery has generated additional benefits because the state can withhold back taxes and delinquent child support payments from winning ticket holders. Bragg said recently an excited lottery winner discovered that $50,000 of his prize money was kept by the state and given to his ex-wife for back child support payments.
“The first thing we do when you come to claim a big prize is check to see, ‘Do you owe any child support?'” said Bragg, eliciting laughter from those in attendance. “His ex-wife and their children, they won the lottery.”
Bragg said because of the lottery, the state has been able to recoup more than $912,000 in back taxes and collect more than 436,000 of delinquent child-support payments.
“Basically, bottom line, even if you don’t win a lottery game, somebody wins at the end; somebody in the state,” Bragg said. “Some people don’t favor gaming, but this is the only game in town where it makes a difference in somebody’s life.”
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