With one full month remaining in the fiscal year, the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery last week surpassed its previous cash sales record for annual draw game sales. And over Memorial Day weekend, the lottery surpassed its cash sales totals for fiscal year 2015.
Current draw cash sales for fiscal year 2016, which ends June 30, are at $88.6 million. The previous high-water mark for annual draw games cash sales of $87.7 million was set in fiscal year 2014.
“This is an incredible achievement that simply could not have been accomplished without the hard work of our small but dedicated staff, our players, and our incredible network of nearly 2,000 Lottery retailers in every corner of the state,” Arkansas Scholarship Lottery Director Bishop Woosley said in a news release.
Woosley told Arkansas Business that he attributed the increase in ticket sales in part to low gas prices. He also said that the “huge Power Ball run” in January represented a bulk of the increase.
He also cited growth with the lottery’s instant games.
“We went in and did some improvements with our games, with advertising and with retail execution, and we have been up 20 of the last 21 months,” Woosley said.
Overall, Arkansas Scholarship Lottery sales for 2016 are at more than $419 million, compared with sales of just over $410 million for all of 2015.
“More sales equals more winners equals more scholarships for Arkansas students,” Woosley said. “So to us, this equals good news all around.”
Since lottery sales began in Arkansas in 2009, the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery has provided more than $573 million for in-state college scholarships to Arkansas students. More than 92 cents of every dollar of lottery revenue goes to prizes, scholarships and retailer commissions in the state, according to lottery officials.
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