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In the South, there’s nothing quite like college football.
The pageantry, the tradition, the school colors, the band, the rumble of “Wooo Pig Sooie!”
Next season, we can add to the list the latest corruption wrought by the NIL era — raffles.
The Arkansas Legislature is searching for agreement on how to allow the Razorbacks, the Red Wolves and the other colleges in the state to offer gambling raffles at sporting events. The first bill was shot down in committee, but rest assured: Some version of the legislation will pass before the General Assembly adjourns in a couple of months.
Why? To give athletic departments another tool to fund the ever-growing costs of attracting and retaining student-athletes.
The plan is stalled in the Arkansas House of Representatives over disagreements about how the raffles should be administered. Essentially, lawmakers must decide whether to let the state’s casinos get their paws on the process.
Either way, I wouldn’t say I’m opposed to these 50/50 raffles, which would split the pot with half going to the university and half going to the winner, but I think it’s a dud of a solution.
First, this is not going to amount to a massive revenue windfall, especially if left to the universities and out-of-state vendors. Several states have already legalized these raffles, and the results have been mostly underwhelming.
In Florida, the University of Florida Gators generated roughly $220,000 from its raffles across seven home football games in 2024.
In Missouri, the University of Missouri generated just $7,126 from a raffle the day Mizzou played the Razorbacks in November. How much money have the three raffles raised since? A whopping total of $7,424.
The figures are a drop in the bucket when you consider top athletic departments are raising tens of millions annually for NIL, and this year, Power Five schools will receive an additional $20 million in revenue sharing to pay athletes.
Maybe the casinos can do a better job soliciting raffle entries. They certainly think they can, and I actually appreciate that the leaders of Saracen Casino Resort have been fairly transparent that their willingness to get involved in the 50-50 raffles is an effort to get their feet farther in the door of the inevitable legalization of full-scale online gambling.
As for its public policy merits, it gives Arkansans another easy way to light their money on fire. These are likely to be people who probably shouldn’t be gambling at all. Those who can afford it won’t play the raffles; they’ll just give their money directly to the schools’ NIL collectives or foundations.
Supporters of the legislation have called it a “fundraising bill, not a gambling bill.” Yes, and we’re all just fundraising to support the lifestyle of the thoroughbreds in Hot Springs when we go to play the horses.
But I suppose these raffles are inevitable. It’s worth a shot.
And the winner is … I’m not quite sure.
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