More questions about lottery advertising

[Tres]

Following up on several questions received since the partial implementation of the lottery in September, APA fielded another one related to what restrictions applied to newspaper advertisements for the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery. In last week’s issue of this publication, copyright and trademark issues were explained with the assistance of APA’s Legal Hotline Law Firm, Quattlebaum, Grooms, Tull and Burrow, and officers of the Arkansas Lottery Commission.

By then another question had arisen: “Can Arkansas newspapers now run ads for lotteries in other states?” According to Bridgette M. Frazier, Arkansas Lottery Commission Attorney, the answer is “yes.”

The original prohibition on advertising resided in several older federal statutes, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1301-1304 (though section 1304 only applies to broadcast advertisements). A more recent amendment to those statutes is codified as 18 U.S.C. § 1307 which creates conditional exemptions from
the ban on lottery advertising for those that are run by states (including the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or any territory or
possession) of the United States. The second exemption applies to lotteries operated by not-for-profit organizations or governmental organizations.

The “conditional” part comes in with section 1307(a), which only authorizes the advertising of a State-operated lottery within the State in which
the lottery is conducted “under the authority of State law” or in another State “which conducts such a lottery.” The same qualification is in place
for not-for-profit lotteries, which may not be advertised where they are prohibited by State law.

Arkansas just became a state which conducts a State lottery, so now satisfies the requirements of 18 U.S.C. § 1307 and has become exempt from
the ban on advertising for state lotteries. As a result, Arkansas newspapers may now accept ads for the Arkansas State Lottery and any other State
Lottery, so long as the retailer is authorized by the respective State.