Arkansas Blog

We asked Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, the Father of the Arkansas Lottery, for a comment on the simmering debate about whether keno parlors and other exotic forms of gambling will pop up around Arkansas under the aegis of the new Arkansas lottery. His prepared statement:

The Lieutenant Governor’s Office receives lots of calls from people asking when they can play Powerball.  We haven’t received any calls about keno.   As we’ve said before, we believe Arkansans should expect to play the same types of lottery games they are playing already in the five lottery states on our border.   These include scratch-off tickets, lotto and the multistate jackpot games like Powerball.  The Arkansas Scholarship Lottery Act prohibits video lotteries, casino gambling, pari-mutuel wagering and wagering on electronic games of skill.  It’s important that the discussion of what types of lottery games will be offered takes place in a public forum.   Our position from the beginning has been that there should be openness and transparency in all decisions that are made about the Scholarship Lottery.   We continue to advocate as much openness as possible in these decisions.

My note: Southland Park thinks keno is an "electronic game of skill," having won authorization to offer it at the West Memphis racino. Also, what is casino gambling? Poker? Blackjack? Keno? Coin-operated game-of-chance-machines? Keno? Bingo? All are currently legal in limited venues in Arkansas.