19 replies to this topic

[Mith242]

Lt Gov Bill Halter is putting forth a bill to try to get a state lottery.  I know we've discussed things like this before.  But this time I was curious to see if people think this bill would actually get passed or not.  Not necessarily dealing with everyone's personal opinion on gambling itself.

[strmchsr77]

Mith242, on Sep 20 2007, 06:15 PM, said:

Lt Gov Bill Halter is putting forth a bill to try to get a state lottery.  I know we've discussed things like this before.  But this time I was curious to see if people think this bill would actually get passed or not.  Not necessarily dealing with everyone's personal opinion on gambling itself.

I really hope that this goes through, people are just going to Oklahoma or Missouri or any other neighboring state to spend money on the lottery.  We are practically just giving our money away to them.  I don't see why we can do something good for our states school system or highways or whatever lottery money goes to.  But do I actually think that it will pass....No.

[johnnydr87]

I don't see it passing either.

[cowbreath]

It's sad we lose some revenue to other states.  However, also I think the fact that some think lottery is a tax on the poor is a compelling argument to never have a lottery.

[zman9810]

IMO, there's little doubt that it will pass if the public is allowed to vote on it. That's why there is such a huge effort to try and keep it off the ballot. This effort has the best chance of passing because it doesn't include the add ons that other efforts did and it is backed by a major government official. The attempts to add casino gambling doomed the others even if they had made it on the ballot.

This issue is one that every group has been able to come up with statistics to support their position so it will come down to common sense. The fact is that most people will spend a few bucks to have a dream of a financial windfall and them knowing their purchase of it will benefit education in the state is a clincher. A lot of people will see it as a chance to not have to buy gas to go to a neighboring state to purchase lotto tickets there. Those opposing a lottery on moral grounds help perpetuate the negative image that Arkansas has. Trying to legislate morality is always a mistake and this is no exception.

[zman9810]

I heard a report today that the state of Oklahoma and Missouri combined are concerned that they will lose $25 million in revenue if Arkansas voters are allowed to vote on and approve a lottery for the state. I knew a lot of money was leaving the state but that is a huge sum. I would imagine that includes not only lotto tickets but the cash that Arkansas residents spend for gas and refreshments as they visit the other states. It sure would be nice to see that money stay instate.

[Mith242]

zman9810, on Jul 12 2008, 02:46 AM, said:

I heard a report today that the state of Oklahoma and Missouri combined are concerned that they will lose $25 million in revenue if Arkansas voters are allowed to vote on and approve a lottery for the state. I knew a lot of money was leaving the state but that is a huge sum. I would imagine that includes not only lotto tickets but the cash that Arkansas residents spend for gas and refreshments as they visit the other states. It sure would be nice to see that money stay instate.

Count on both of those states to quietly financially support any opposition movements.  If we see commercials, (which I assume we will) I bet it won't just be religious groups paying for those commercials.  Both states will be laughing all the way to the bank if it gets voted down.

[Mith242]

I knew a lot of states have lotteries but I guess I didn't realize how much in the minority we were in.  There are only 8 states including Arkansas that don't have a lottery.  And at least two of those, Nevada and Mississippi have casinos and gambling.  Which would narrow the list down to at least 6 states that don't have lotteries or casinos.  Could be even fewer, I'm not sure about some of the other states and if they have casinos.  Just shows how far behind Arkansas is in yet another category.

[lastmall]

Mith242, on Sep 20 2007, 05:15 PM, said:

Lt Gov Bill Halter is putting forth a bill to try to get a state lottery.  I know we've discussed things like this before.  But this time I was curious to see if people think this bill would actually get passed or not.  Not necessarily dealing with everyone's personal opinion on gambling itself.

It will probably pass and then Arkansas will have the saddest sickest lowest jackpot lottery on Earth.

A MUCH better idea would be for Arkansas to affiliate with one of the multi-state lottery programs like PowerBall or MegaMillions. PowerBall is in Louisiana and MegaMillions is in Texas, so one of them should be willing to admit Arkansas.

[Mith242]

lastmall, on Sep 2 2008, 08:06 PM, said:

It will probably pass and then Arkansas will have the saddest sickest lowest jackpot lottery on Earth.

A MUCH better idea would be for Arkansas to affiliate with one of the multi-state lottery programs like PowerBall or MegaMillions. PowerBall is in Louisiana and MegaMillions is in Texas, so one of them should be willing to admit Arkansas.

I imagine they would join one of the other larger lotteries.  I don't know that there's many states that have their own separate independent lottery.

[Mith242]

Only 77% of the precincts in but the lottery amendment has a sizable lead, 63% for and 37% against.  I'm a bit surprised if this holds out.  I really wasn't sure it would pass and I also thought the vote would be much closer.

[turboturtle]

Mith242, on Nov 5 2008, 06:16 AM, said:

Only 77% of the precincts in but the lottery amendment has a sizable lead, 63% for and 37% against.  I'm a bit surprised if this holds out.  I really wasn't sure it would pass and I also thought the vote would be much closer.

I sorta thought it would be closer too. My family had a split vote on the lottery issue. Also, I notice Beebe voted against it. His vote had minimal influence on the results though, since he waited till the day of to announce.

Did you see the article last week that said 30 percent of Arkansas schools are failing the stipulations in No Child Left Behind. Another way of looking at that is that Arkansas is leaving behind 30 percent of its youth population.  If we right-off one-third of our kids, I'm not sure how Arkansas will ever become a competitive state.

I'm moving to Richmond, VA in the next couple of months. We're looking at the school systems in Henrico County, VA. It is similar to Pulaski County in that there are fewer high performing middle schools than high performing elementary schools and high schools.  Even among the middle schools, there are more of them in Henrico County that perform well on national comparisons than in Pulaski County. Granted it is a larger population.  What this means to us is that there are more options on where to live. A big contrast to Pulaski County, is that there are no magnet or charter schools. The choice in Henrico County is between public and private.

How does this factor into the lottery? Who knows? I believe Arkansas has a severe problem when it comes to providing quality (or even adequate) education to its citizens. The preK initiative (AR leads the nation) appears to be making a difference. Working on the other end of the educational spectrum, the lottery funds may go a long way to help our state produce more knowledge workers. That is my hope anyway.

My last thought is that the lottery dollars may be the only significant increase in revenue towards education in Arkansas for many years given the current state of the national economy.  I cannot imagine a statewide initiative to increase revenue for education passing in Arkansas. I don't see that happening in Little Rock or Pulaski County either.

[skirby]

turboturtle,
You are wrong when you said : "Did you see the article last week that said 30 percent of Arkansas schools are failing the stipulations in No Child Left Behind. Another way of looking at that is that Arkansas is leaving behind 30 percent of its youth population. If we right-off one-third of our kids, I'm not sure how Arkansas will ever become a competitive state."
Yes, 30% of the schools are failing but that has to do with the way they are graded. A school with 500 students could be on the list but a sub-group of only 40 students might be failing because they didn't improve enough over the past year. This ranking was based on improvement from one year to the next. This has noting to do with Arkansas leaving behind 30% of its students.
One thing interesting about this survey is that it does not break down the difference between genders. I know of one school that is not on the list but only a third of the 11th grade boys score at grade level or above on the literacy test. Because the girls score at almost twice the level of the boys then according to the government everything is a ok.  
There are other rankings for each school in the state that reflect better what is going on with education in the state. It is my opinion that for all the money being spent the results are not there. Most schools spend more money on sports than they do for math or reading. When they stop hiring coaches that also teach and hire teachers that might do some part-time coaching then maybe the situation might change.

[turboturtle]

skirby, on Nov 6 2008, 12:06 AM, said:

turboturtle,
You are wrong when you said : "Did you see the article last week that said 30 percent of Arkansas schools are failing the stipulations in No Child Left Behind. Another way of looking at that is that Arkansas is leaving behind 30 percent of its youth population. If we right-off one-third of our kids, I'm not sure how Arkansas will ever become a competitive state."
Yes, 30% of the schools are failing but that has to do with the way they are graded. A school with 500 students could be on the list but a sub-group of only 40 students might be failing because they didn't improve enough over the past year. This ranking was based on improvement from one year to the next. This has noting to do with Arkansas leaving behind 30% of its students.
One thing interesting about this survey is that it does not break down the difference between genders. I know of one school that is not on the list but only a third of the 11th grade boys score at grade level or above on the literacy test. Because the girls score at almost twice the level of the boys then according to the government everything is a ok.  
There are other rankings for each school in the state that reflect better what is going on with education in the state. It is my opinion that for all the money being spent the results are not there. Most schools spend more money on sports than they do for math or reading. When they stop hiring coaches that also teach and hire teachers that might do some part-time coaching then maybe the situation might change.

Arkansas ranges below average to near the bottom on most national benchmarks in education across all levels. This includes lower density of population of people with masters degrees or higher.  We lost two Toyota plants; one to Mississippi, because of a lack of skilled labor.  There IS a problem with the state's ability provide an education to its citizenry.  The lottery money may be the only resource available to create opportunity to improve this situation in the near term.

Edited by turboturtle, 05 November 2008 - 11:30 PM.

[Aporkalypse]

turboturtle, on Nov 5 2008, 11:28 PM, said:

Arkansas ranges below average to near the bottom on most national benchmarks in education across all levels. This includes lower density of population of people with masters degrees or higher.  We lost two Toyota plants; one to Mississippi, because of a lack of skilled labor.  There IS a problem with the state's ability provide an education to its citizenry.  The lottery money may be the only resource available to create opportunity to improve this situation in the near term.

I agree with this.  I am glad that all of the lottery money is being used for college education instead of sending money into the "general fund" so legislators can waste it on local projects.

It's interesting that Richmond doesn't have charter schools.  The Washington DC area has them everywhere, it is the trend up there.  In the long term schools like E-Stem may be an answer to giving the inner city poor a shot at an excellent education but that also means the remaining public school system will be that much worse off.  I know a lot of LR residents, black and white, who are flocking to E-Stem.  I think they have a significant waiting list.

[zman9810]

I thought it was worth posting that the attempts by the anti-lottery groups to subvert the will of the state's voters indicate their complete lack of credibilty in having a voice in state politics. It is one thing to disagree but to first to try and coerce the state legislature to not even consider the steps to enact a lottery and then try to gut any provisions that would make it feasible undermines their entire postion. The simple fact of the size of the lottery vote victory should convince them of the will of the citizens of the state- to say that they know better is an example of complete arrogance and undermines their position in any future decisions.

Edited by zman9810, 19 January 2009 - 02:17 AM.

[zman9810]

Anyone else think the salaries of the lottery officials are getting ridiculous? Everyone hired so far either has a six figure salary or has the potential to do so. The director is at $324,000 with this two VP's at $225,000 each. I understand the defense that the lottery will be like a big bank and needs experienced professionals to realize it's potential but we are in the worst recession in 5 decades with unemployment skyrocketing. There has to be some recognition that these huge salaries are giving the lottery a bad image before it even starts selling tickets. It seems like the new director is completely out of touch with the present economic realities and how his actions are being seen. The new review of salaries by the lottery commission is a step in the right direction but the outcry over the salaries of those employees already in place isn't going to go away.

[Mith242]

zman9810, on Jul 18 2009, 01:38 AM, said:

Anyone else think the salaries of the lottery officials are getting ridiculous? Everyone hired so far either has a six figure salary or has the potential to do so. The director is at $324,000 with this two VP's at $225,000 each. I understand the defense that the lottery will be like a big bank and needs experienced professionals to realize it's potential but we are in the worst recession in 5 decades with unemployment skyrocketing. There has to be some recognition that these huge salaries are giving the lottery a bad image before it even starts selling tickets. It seems like the new director is completely out of touch with the present economic realities and how his actions are being seen. The new review of salaries by the lottery commission is a step in the right direction but the outcry over the salaries of those employees already in place isn't going to go away.

I've been meaning to come over here and post.  Yeah this has certainly raising the controversy over the whole thing.  I do think we should have a lottery but this just seems to be getting out of hand.  If we were a bigger state I could maybe understand it.  I also realize this seems to be a bit like college football, new coaches seem to pull in bigger bucks.  But in this case I don't feel that we're 'competing' with other lottery states.  But I'm also wondering what do you do now?  If you try to cut people's salaries now you run the risk of running everyone off and having to start all over again.  Sounds like the state will finally clamp down on future lottery employee salaries.  But this really leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth.  I don't think this is the way you should start off.   It's taken a long time to get a lottery going in Arkansas and obviously there's still a strong anti-gambling group still in the state.  While some of us have been waiting to finally have a lottery in the state I don't think anyone was expecting to have a 'world class' lottery as has been stated by some.  As it's been stated you don't want to have just anybody at these positions and don't want to pay too low.  This just seems to be too far on the other end.  Does a state out size really need to have one of the most expensive lottery commissions?  Just seems like these guys are adding more fuel to the fire for people wanting to get all of this repealed in a future election.

[Mith242]

It's certainly been a controversial subject.  But the lottery has been in effect for this week.  I'm not sure what officials expected as far as lottery sales.  But I have to say I've been surprised how high the sales have been so far.  Granted once the newness rubs off I'm sure we'll get a better idea of what an average day will be like.  But so far the first three days, lottery sales have exceeded $1 Mil.  I wonder if there's any way to break down those sales to different areas of the state.  I'm curious to see if some areas of the state are participating in the lottery more or if it's pretty well balanced throughout the state.  While I'm sure some are alarmed to see so many people putting so much money into the lottery.  I'm glad that at least the state is keeping the money in state rather than seeing all this money goes across the state line.  While some parts of the state may not have had easy access to other state's lotteries it helps keep some Arkansans, who had quick access to neighboring states, money in state.  It would also be interesting to see how much  people from neighboring states are participating in our lottery.  Maybe some of our neighboring state's lotteries have dropped a bit in sales now that we have one going now.

[Mith242]

Last night Arkansas joined in on Powerball.  I wonder what sales were like, although with it being Halloween it might not have been a typical night.