Kentucky Lottery finally able to advertise where the money goes

Aug 27, 2014, 9:02 am (11 comments)

Kentucky Lottery

Required change in state law

Includes video report

For the first time in its 25 year history, the Kentucky Lottery is advertising where proceeds from the sale of its games are spent.

This has never happened before because, until recently, it would've been against the law.

When the state's General Assembly put together the governing legislation for the Kentucky Lottery back in 1989, a floor amendment was passed which stated, "...government programs and services shall not be mentioned in advertising or promoting a lottery". Kentucky thus became the only state in the US to prohibit the mention of the programs where lottery funds were directed in advertisements.

"In talking with legislators who were there at the time, there was a great fear of the unknown," said the Kentucky Lottery's President and CEO Arch Gleason. "The level of concern was high as to what kinds of ads we would run, and specifically there was anxiety that we may run ads which would overpromise benefits. Given that level of nervousness, the beneficiary advertising restriction was put in place."

Over the years, several attempts were made through the General Assembly to overturn the ban, but none became law. Finally, through the latest state budget bill, the restriction was lifted.

TV ads begin running today in seven markets across the state featuring the story of Molly Anderson, a recent University of Kentucky graduate and special education teacher with the Fayette County Public Schools. Created and produced by Bandy Carroll Hellige in Louisville, the commercial features how Molly received a KEES scholarship which helped her go to college and fulfill her lifelong dream of being a teacher.

The KEES program, which is solely funded by the Kentucky Lottery, is one of only three scholarship and grant programs which receive Lottery proceeds. The other two need-based programs are the College Access Program and Kentucky Tuition Grants.

Research conducted by the Kentucky Lottery has shown the public wanted to know where Lottery proceeds were spent in the Commonwealth. 83% of Kentuckians surveyed said they didn't feel like they received enough information on how proceeds are spent, and 89% felt the Kentucky Lottery should be able to advertise how proceeds are distributed.

"I've always felt like it was good public policy to tell people where these dollars are going," Gleason said. "Legislators will tell you the number one question they consistently hear from constituents deals with not knowing where proceeds go from Lottery sales. Starting with this new commercial, we now look forward to sharing this news across Kentucky — and the story we have to tell is a good one."

Since 1989, more than $4 billion in proceeds from Kentucky Lottery sales have been turned over to the Commonwealth. In 1999, proceeds started a gradual shift away from the General Fund and into college scholarships and grants. Since that time, more than $2.2 billion in scholarships and grants paid for from Lottery sales have been distributed by the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority, or KHEAA. More information on how to apply for a Lottery-funded college scholarship and grant can be found on their website, www.KHEAA.com.

"The numbers show 95 cents of every dollar in non-loan student aid awarded by the Commonwealth comes straight from the sale of Kentucky Lottery tickets," Gleason said. "And we're immensely proud of that fact."

VIDEO: Watch the Kentucky Lottery advertisement

KEES, CAP and KTG by county in 2013 school year and total awards from 1999 through 2013

County Name 2013 Total Award 2013 Total Amount Total Awards Total Amounts
Adair 800 $1,522,639 10,487 $16,817,406
Allen 510 $876,289 6,320 $9,390,238
Anderson 752 $1,294,044 11,826 $19,976,636
Ballard 204 $323,842 2,800 $3,811,732
Barren 1,144 $1,903,937 14,068 $19,610,321
Bath 264 $434,483 3,545 $4,985,602
Bell 774 $1,230,753 10,940 $14,662,151
Boone 3,415 $5,715,908 36,722 $52,623,693
Bourbon 553 $884,704 6,859 $9,724,450
Boyd 1,105 $1,751,544 16,144 $21,716,900
Boyle 957 $1,664,509 11,312 $16,193,160
Bracken 226 $373,510 2,946 $4,006,572
Breathitt 546 $826,185 7,298 $9,332,946
Breckinridge 552 $855,058 6,763 $9,117,761
Bullitt 1,760 $2,782,250 20,609 $28,274,305
Butler 278 $442,895 4,284 $5,846,234
Caldwell 340 $554,478 4,731 $6,624,355
Calloway 927 $1,621,657 13,528 $18,677,874
Campbell 2,214 $3,619,001 30,474 $41,860,099
Carlisle 125 $201,585 1,932 $2,715,745
Carroll 242 $390,015 2,706 $3,753,615
Carter 657 $1,044,763 9,985 $13,465,926
Casey 537 $888,230 6,400 $9,047,894
Christian 1,272 $1,933,248 17,690 $22,576,804
Clark 920 $1,538,434 11,143 $15,206,703
Clay 692 $1,119,438 7,942 $10,923,484
Clinton 295 $516,608 3,827 $5,255,337
Crittenden 191 $327,015 2,943 $4,089,738
Cumberland 178 $290,521 2,804 $4,036,776
Daviess 2,888 $4,425,821 42,158 $57,827,622
Edmonson 332 $540,090 4,060 $5,485,637
Elliott 200 $327,048 2,059 $2,901,094
Estill 389 $668,172 4,671 $6,506,912
Fayette 6,727 $10,727,301 95,347 $126,058,329
Fleming 401 $646,059 5,833 $7,789,379
Floyd 1,114 $1,759,515 17,004 $22,200,519
Franklin 1,205 $2,006,411 16,452 $23,420,092
Fulton 152 $261,482 1,578 $2,200,107
Gallatin 177 $289,098 1,200 $1,661,412
Garrard 548 $891,634 6,163 $8,702,018
Grant 699 $1,180,500 7,384 $10,618,455
Graves 1,142 $1,882,031 14,591 $21,007,536
Grayson 582 $968,093 7,607 $10,391,947
Green 470 $859,111 5,535 $8,336,078
Greenup 832 $1,305,484 12,103 $16,080,531
Hancock 309 $481,002 3,887 $5,688,588
Hardin 2,944 $4,691,170 37,666 $51,551,783
Harlan 761 $1,149,104 12,922 $16,592,028
Harrison 563 $934,296 7,244 $10,108,651
Hart 421 $709,664 5,393 $7,882,552
Henderson 793 $1,192,426 12,878 $17,278,398
Henry 377 $640,184 4,333 $6,158,387
Hickman 152 $256,567 1,933 $2,745,804
Hopkins 1,039 $1,696,374 16,693 $22,877,506
Jackson 362 $586,876 4,274 $6,201,528
Jefferson 18,963 $29,628,137 247,327 $330,888,476
Jessamine 1,482 $2,432,055 16,623 $23,721,551
Johnson 714 $1,146,895 9,890 $13,225,635
Kenton 3,966 $6,441,024 50,642 $69,510,854
Knott 634 $1,016,195 9,646 $12,682,258
Knox 1,156 $2,008,484 13,132 $19,733,557
LaRue 395 $651,788 5,442 $7,708,471
Laurel 1,828 $3,203,180 20,825 $29,850,115
Lawrence 420 $676,303 5,730 $7,500,092
Lee 182 $287,493 2,500 $3,554,338
Leslie 333 $509,947 5,247 $6,790,881
Letcher 742 $1,199,727 10,893 $14,092,223
Lewis 290 $452,909 4,022 $5,223,666
Lincoln 660 $1,061,983 7,640 $10,878,925
Livingston 181 $282,674 2,396 $3,192,659
Logan 646 $1,144,990 8,395 $12,170,271
Lyon 199 $337,852 2,307 $3,380,710
Madison 2,540 $4,099,280 31,755 $43,318,563
Magoffin 362 $572,880 5,064 $6,952,676
Marion 689 $1,202,366 9,304 $14,214,415
Marshall 859 $1,346,349 10,372 $14,006,429
Martin 285 $439,541 4,091 $5,140,259
Mason 472 $772,532 6,778 $9,332,033
McCracken 1,750 $2,883,407 24,000 $32,845,737
McCreary 463 $710,889 7,111 $9,405,085
McLean 266 $420,878 3,808 $5,050,276
Meade 727 $1,129,860 9,462 $13,290,688
Menifee 142 $236,324 2,177 $2,965,905
Mercer 601 $1,024,409 7,857 $11,099,266
Metcalfe 248 $432,442 3,488 $5,063,045
Monroe 315 $547,170 4,347 $6,378,509
Montgomery 709 $1,172,523 8,116 $11,189,116
Morgan 303 $485,350 5,249 $6,920,137
Muhlenberg 638 $994,179 10,928 $14,649,742
Nelson 1,318 $2,204,955 17,919 $25,559,746
Nicholas 144 $234,606 2,249 $3,021,536
Ohio 553 $867,910 8,340 $11,293,460
Oldham 2,097 $3,521,146 20,596 $30,208,931
Owen 263 $451,282 3,431 $5,050,701
Owsley 114 $177,953 1,107 $1,607,026
Pendleton 388 $665,895 4,619 $6,498,830
Perry 990 $1,527,806 13,078 $16,953,426
Pike 2,074 $3,595,160 28,521 $41,716,993
Powell 331 $562,827 3,787 $5,218,692
Pulaski 1,773 $2,920,061 23,585 $32,421,104
Robertson 49 $78,639 758 $988,101
Rockcastle 537 $909,828 6,548 $9,339,753
Rowan 504 $825,989 9,863 $12,736,910
Russell 624 $1,130,530 8,199 $12,411,505
Scott 1,153 $1,920,654 13,002 $18,854,070
Shelby 1,135 $1,907,148 11,270 $16,222,557
Simpson 373 $584,670 4,774 $6,395,741
Spencer 530 $839,958 4,852 $6,840,778
Taylor 1,069 $1,987,315 14,649 $23,299,266
Todd 207 $299,223 3,027 $4,038,143
Trigg 354 $576,178 4,396 $6,184,668
Trimble 156 $268,401 2,210 $3,048,201
Union 378 $632,211 4,890 $6,798,988
Warren 2,724 $4,411,496 40,510 $53,327,984
Washington 498 $870,334 6,385 $9,772,635
Wayne 599 $1,026,698 7,685 $10,839,312
Webster 280 $440,690 4,357 $5,707,274
Whitley 1,288 $2,312,299 16,124 $24,920,795
Wolfe 212 $327,561 2,714 $3,564,587
Woodford 821 $1,361,385 11,034 $14,859,461
TOTAL 116,150 $189,087,843 1,524,796 $2,103,740,024

Source: Kentucky Lottery

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

Astekblue's avatarAstekblue

I  read  last  year   (  in  the  Lexington  ,  Kentucky   " Herald  Leader  Newspaper "  )   where  the  scholarship  money 

was  way  down  back  then  from  what  it  used  to  be

 

I  posted  about  that  in  another  Ky.  article  in  the  New  forum  back  then

 

 

But at least they finally are gonna  release the info  ( that  they  should  have  released  years  ago )

noise-gate

I Agree! This is not federal taxes where one does not know how or where your money is being used.

Any State lottery operation should be transparent to its residents, in fact it should be demanded of them.

Stack47

"government programs and services shall not be mentioned in advertising or promoting a lottery"

That doesn't mean where the lottery profits go is not available to the public, it just means the KY Lottery couldn't use that as an endorsement to play lottery games.

MillionsWanted's avatarMillionsWanted

That was a strange law.

Coin Toss's avatarCoin Toss

Quote: Originally posted by MillionsWanted on Aug 27, 2014

That was a strange law.

MillionsWanted,

You got that right!

From the OP:

"For the first time in its 25 year history, the Kentucky Lottery is advertising where proceeds from the sale of its games are spent.

This has never happened before because, until recently, it would've been against the law.
"


A little insight into Kentucky. Consider wet and dry counties regarding booze. In the dry counties there are more moonshiners. Distilling and selling illegal booze (no tax) isn't really what has the police concerned, it's not paying off the county sheriff that lets you do it that does.

As the bumper stickers say,

Kentucky, Fast horses and faster women.

PS,
This is one thread where I really miss Ridge!

Stack47

Quote: Originally posted by MillionsWanted on Aug 27, 2014

That was a strange law.

It was a compromise because there were lots of groups against having a state lottery. It was similar type of hypocrisy as the Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana casino legislation; just not as silly. The casinos had to be on boats and the boats had to be on water even if it was in a moat. I was on the Hollywood casino boat when they started engines, untied the moorings, and backed up ten feet because the law the boats must operational. They even issued boarding passes on boats going nowhere and there was a Captain and a crew.

Each state lottery has different earmarks for their lottery profits, but KY was the only lottery that couldn't advertise how the almost $4 billion in profits were distributed. Now they can say $846.6 million went to education last year.

Stack47

Quote: Originally posted by Astekblue on Aug 27, 2014

I  read  last  year   (  in  the  Lexington  ,  Kentucky   " Herald  Leader  Newspaper "  )   where  the  scholarship  money 

was  way  down  back  then  from  what  it  used  to  be

 

I  posted  about  that  in  another  Ky.  article  in  the  New  forum  back  then

 

 

But at least they finally are gonna  release the info  ( that  they  should  have  released  years  ago )

"But at least they finally are gonna  release the info  ( that  they  should  have  released  years  ago )"

The KY Lottery always has released an annual report, but couldn't advertise where the profits went. Did you notice the TV ad at the bottom of the article; that's what the KY Lottery couldn't do for 25 years.

sully16's avatarsully16

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on Aug 27, 2014

I Agree! This is not federal taxes where one does not know how or where your money is being used.

Any State lottery operation should be transparent to its residents, in fact it should be demanded of them.

Yep, sick of pie charts, I would like a bigger break down in Michigan.

Coin Toss's avatarCoin Toss

Quote: Originally posted by Stack47 on Aug 28, 2014

It was a compromise because there were lots of groups against having a state lottery. It was similar type of hypocrisy as the Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana casino legislation; just not as silly. The casinos had to be on boats and the boats had to be on water even if it was in a moat. I was on the Hollywood casino boat when they started engines, untied the moorings, and backed up ten feet because the law the boats must operational. They even issued boarding passes on boats going nowhere and there was a Captain and a crew.

Each state lottery has different earmarks for their lottery profits, but KY was the only lottery that couldn't advertise how the almost $4 billion in profits were distributed. Now they can say $846.6 million went to education last year.

Since then many of the river boat casinos have pulled out the engines and don't sail anymore.

River boat casinos came about because of the Indian Gaming Act of 1987.

Once it became a casino, the (now defunct)  Admiral in St Louis never did sail.

As for 'education', how much of the lottery money that went into it stayed in it? Illinois and Missouri both make the same claims about lottery money and schools yet they have some really impoverished schools, lay off teachers often, eliminate programs all together, and at the beginning of each school year ask people to purchase and then donate school supplies.

Stack47

Quote: Originally posted by Coin Toss on Aug 28, 2014

Since then many of the river boat casinos have pulled out the engines and don't sail anymore.

River boat casinos came about because of the Indian Gaming Act of 1987.

Once it became a casino, the (now defunct)  Admiral in St Louis never did sail.

As for 'education', how much of the lottery money that went into it stayed in it? Illinois and Missouri both make the same claims about lottery money and schools yet they have some really impoverished schools, lay off teachers often, eliminate programs all together, and at the beginning of each school year ask people to purchase and then donate school supplies.

My point with the river boat casinos was about the hypocrisy of pretending people were gambling while cruising down a river. Casino Windsor had a casino boat docked on the Detroit River with plans on cruising the river in the Summer months, but never did because of the delays in their new building; they needed the extra business.

It sounds odd that one state would create a law prohibiting advertising where the revenue was spent, but KY did. In a way maybe it's better not to advertise the profits go to education knowing it's just a band aide especially in situations like in Illinois and Missouri. And I doubt Northstar wanted to advertise "the firm was running $716 million short of its revenue target nine months into fiscal 2014".

Coin Toss's avatarCoin Toss

Yeah, true Stack47.

For those of us who went to the boats from Nevada, we couldn't believe people would pay for a boarding pass and stand in line so they could go gamble.

Bang Head

End of comments
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