Ark. colleges try to balance lottery, gambling ban

LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Arkansas' colleges and universities are looking forward to the millions of dollars in scholarships the state's new lottery will bring, but on some campuses playing the game could land students in hot water.

Schools around the state that have banned gambling on campus are reviewing whether such restrictions would prevent students from scratching off an instant ticket. At least one Christian school that prohibits students from gambling on or off campus has decided to make a sole exception for the lottery.

"We're not encouraging participation in the lottery, but we're not disciplining students who do play," said David Crouch, spokesman for Harding University.

Harding, a liberal arts Christian school in Searcy affiliated with the Church of Christ, prohibits students from gambling on or off campus. But Crouch said administrators in August decided to allow students to play the lottery.

The rule change highlights a conflict schools face with the start of the lottery, which was approved by voters in November to fund college scholarships. The games launched last week with the start of scratch-off ticket sales; the state begins selling Powerball tickets Oct. 31.

Jerry Cox, head of the anti-gambling Arkansas Family Council, said he thinks it's inconsistent to ban some forms of gambling but not the lottery. The council had unsuccessfully sued to try to keep the lottery amendment off the ballot last year.

Cox said Harding's exception could be a slippery slope for the campus depending on what games the lottery adds. Though the lottery law bans video lottery terminals, Cox says he's worried the lottery eventually could add keno.

"What if the lottery begins to look like all these other forms of gambling?" Cox said.

Lottery officials Wednesday presented a preliminary $400 million budget for the lottery that predicts the games will raise at least $102.3 million for scholarships in the first year to be used at either private or public universities. The award amounts and number of scholarships will be decided by lawmakers next year.

So far no religious private colleges around the state have said they would refuse the lottery-funded scholarships.

The scholarships present a tricky situation for private colleges affiliated with churches around the state, which often require students follow a code of conduct on and off campus. Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, for example, tells students that gambling is an offense that could warrant at least probation.

That includes playing a scratch-off ticket or any other lottery game, the college says.

John Brown University in Siloam Springs, a private nondenominational Christian college, bans gambling on campus and also strongly discourages students from gambling at all. But Lucas Roebuck, the university's communications director, said there would likely be little punishment for students who did play lottery tickets on campus.

Roebuck notes that the campus is near the border with Oklahoma, which has had a lottery since 2005. He said the school hasn't had to discipline any students for playing that state's lottery.

The state's major public universities — including Arkansas State University, the University of Central Arkansas and the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville — prohibit students from gambling on university property.

Officials with those schools said they believe the ban would only apply to buying tickets on campus, not actually scratching them off there.

"That would be like if you went to the races at Hot Springs and bet on the horses, you left but your roommate brings you the money from cashing in your ticket. You're not gambling on campus. You gambled in Hot Springs," said Allen Meadors, president of the University of Central Arkansas.

Arkansas Lottery Director Ernie Passailaigue said he's unaware of any retailers selling tickets on college campuses. Passailaigue said South Carolina, where he had previously served as lottery director, banned ticket sales from college campuses.

Passailaigue declined to say whether he thinks Arkansas needs a similar restriction, but said college campuses aren't a great selling environment anyway.

"People are there for a specific reason and it's not to buy lottery tickets," Passailaigue said. "The sales are not going to be much of anything."