Arkansas lottery opposes proposed amendment on coin-operated amusement machines

The front entrance of the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery office is shown in this Jan. 30, 2019 file photo.
The front entrance of the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery office is shown in this Jan. 30, 2019 file photo.

The Arkansas Scholarship Lottery opposes a proposed constitutional amendment that would authorize coin-operated amusement machines, lottery Director Bishop Woosley said Friday.

Under the proposed constitutional amendment of the Arcade Arkansas committee, the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery would administer and regulate licenses for coin-operated amusement machines and operators. Net machine receipts would be subject to a 20% tax with the revenue distributed to the lottery’s office.

The Arcade Arkansas committee has been collecting signatures since September to place its proposal on the ballot.

Woosley said voter approval of the proposed constitutional amendment would result in increased gaming competition to the lottery and ultimately millions of dollars in lost net proceeds for scholarships in Arkansas.

The proposal also would impose an immediate and permanent burden on the lottery to create a new division responsible for the licensing, oversight and enforcement of thousands of coin operated machines in the state, he said at a news conference held by Protect Arkansas Communities, the committeee that opposes the proposed amendment.

Jason Cline, a spokesman for Arcade Arkansas, said “we would expect this would be positive for the Scholarship Lottery because the net proceeds are taxed at 20% and 100% of the tax revenue goes to the Scholarship Lottery.”

Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

This story was originally published at 11:25 a.m.

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