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