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Anyone on here have the scoop on how the $100 million will be divided among the universities if passed? I was told today that at this time it's not been decided and was also told that whatever we received, that our budget would be cut by the legislature by approximately that amount therefore not realizing any significant increase in money coming from the state.

Sounds about right for Arkansas politics. I really don't see voting yea for something if we're not told how it will be spent.

I can't speak to the first part on how the money would be divided, but I am fairly certain that the previous governor did not support a lottery - at least partially - because most states that implemented a lottery to fund education, transportation, etc. didn't supplement the budgets of those areas with lottery money. Instead they supplanted the budgets of those areas. The leg then took the money previously given to those areas and put it somewhere else.

For what it's worth...


However, that doesn't mean that the money that is moved to other areas wouldn't be a good thing for those areas.

I apologize for the use of the word "areas" repeatedly throughout this.

That's pretty much the interpretation I got today from somebody I trust. Guess I'll have to flip a penny when I get to that lever.

I just know that states such as Texas and Oklahoma have used the lottery towards the benefit of education directly. I think this would be a great think for the state of Arkansas considering Arkansas stands 49 out of 50 states in the education dept. Why not try something that might help improve the budget for public universities? I mean it has helped other states like the one's described above. Why not give it a shot...I mean if you don't gamble then don't buy a lottery ticket. That's just my 2 cents...

Who runs the lottery, what's their profit or how are they reimbursed and does that money stay in-state, and how much does the state have to spend to regulate and audit the whole thing?

You have to remember that when you flip the switch/pull the lever/push the button/mark the circle for your ballot, if you vote for the Lottery Amendment, all you are actually voting for is to allow the State Legislature to design and institute a lottery in Arkansas.

No more, no less.

This amendment tells us nothing about how much money will or won't be raised, where it will go, who will run the lottery, or whether or not anyone's budgets will be cut.

And anyone who says he or she knows the answers to those questions definitively should also be able to tell you exactly who will win the first lottery drawing.

In case you don't catch my meaning, it's that anyone who claims to "know" the answer to these questions doesn't.

Now, all that said, you may think I am against the lottery. I am not. I am willing to take a "gamble" on the possibility that a lottery may create some additional funding for education in our state. That amount may not be $100 million, it may only be $5 or $10 million. But the way I look at it, no matter how much comes out of the lottery, it's money for education that didn't exist before.

If the legislature tries to cut back funding to higher ed and replace it with lottery proceeds, then it will be up to the people to tell them "No, that's not what we want; that's not what this lottery money was intended for."

However, we don't know what the legislature will do. All you're voting on is the opportunity to see what happens. If you want the opportunity to see, vote yes. If you don't care, I think you should still vote yes. If you don't want the opportunity to see, vote no.

There's not much more you can say about the amendment until we find out if it passes or not.

Since the money is supposed to be used for higher education in state lotteries why don't the universities sell lottery tickets on their campuses?

Hmm.... an interesting proposal......

Throw some beer sales in there and I think you've got a winner!

Read somewhere the other day that none of the university presidents had endorsed the proposal. Makes me wonder.

I'm not voting for a bunch of unknowns.

Did my patriotic duty today. Voted for the right people. One thing that I am a little intrigued about though - if there is suppose to be separation between church and state, I find it somewhat ironic that many polling places to vote were at churches.

Heard on the news today that Governor Beebe voted against the lottery amendment.

Well looks more and more likely that we're about to have a lottery in Arkansas. Gets your pennies ready for scratch-offs!

It's called government convenience. Use a church when there is a disaster or election, but tell the members to shut up when it comes to vocalizing about their political preferences. Also, would somebody please show me where it mentions seperation of church and state? "Government shall make no law...hindering the freedom of religion". Interpretation of course.

It ain't in the Constitution. Read the Federalist Papers.

I don't feel I've been oppressed in practicing my faith (religion is a bad word to me). But it's a subjective feeling, I suppose.

Government convenience -- so would it be preferable for the government to build structures solely for the use of disaster relief and elections, structures which would sit mostly unused the majority of the time? Churches volunteer to assist the government in these functions. In turn, churches don't pay taxes. It seems like everyone wins.