Supporters of Arkansas Raffle Act Speak on Next Steps After Bill Fails

Two Arkansas House members support HB1044 talk about details of bill

Arkansas State Capitol building in Little Rock, Ark. on Sunday, Jan. 17. 2021 | Joe Rondone/The Commercial Appeal via Imagn Content Services, LLC

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Razorbacks and other schools in the state of Arkansas are looking for ways to keep up in an arms race as college sports transitions in an era of NIL.

House Bill 1044 would allow the universities across the state, and only the universities to operate a raffle to support the athletic department, NIL or other needs.

The bill failed to get out of the House Rules Committee on the first attempt Feb. 12.

Two legislators who voted in favor of the bill spoke on the particulars of the bill, lead sponsor Rep. RJ Hawk (R-Bryant) and Rep. Brit McKenzie (R-Rogers).

McKenzie, who was not involved in the drafting of the bill, believes that the bill is a net positive for the state.

"I want to help the universities," McKenzie said in a phone interview with Razorbacks on SI. "This legislation in front of us will help in their pursuits of raising more money for their NIL collectives and efforts."

Hawk says that the testimony got off track when Razorbacks athletics director Hunter Yurachek mentioned "BUMP" as a vendor which the university has had "informal conversations" about conducting the raffle.

BUMP's website describes their mission as "being the most valued partner to charities and not-for-profits, providing fundraising solutions, services and creativity, with the goal to maximize charitable revenue."

You can watch the full 4 hours of testimony here.

"That's just one vendor that the university was talking to." Hawk said in a phone interview with Razorbacks on SI. "It's not law right now. The university can explore all their options. BUMP's just one company.

"There's like 10 of them that do it and it just so happened the one that that Mr. Yurachek said in testimony happened to have a casino license and so that one would not be able to be used."

Both legislators agreed that testimony from Carlton Saffa, chief market officer of BetSaracen, who was the sole member signed up to testify against the bill, about concerns of geolocation, age verification and other questions about the actual functionality of the raffle is something that needs to be dealt with.

"Those were really good points that were made in committee," McKenzie said. "I made those comments at the end of testimony that I would like to see additional security restrictions so that there is age verification, geolocation and then the all of pay out protocols and making sure it's all in compliance with code."

Hawk declined to give specifics on what that looks like in the next iteration of the bill, but did confirm that amendments are coming.

The legislature operates in a binary way and in a world of realpolitik. Legislators don't have much latitude to do much on a vote other than say yes or no.

"There was testimony that we [the casinos] want to be able to participate," McKenzie said. "That's fine. I can't vote on a bill that doesn't exist. Right now, I have a bill in front of me that will benefit the universities.”

"They're saying it will benefit them. They believe they can conduct it in an efficient and effective way, and I'm gonna take them for their word. I want to facilitate our universities to do whatever they can to compete in an ever shifting NIL marketplace."

Hawk also confirmed that he's had conversations with Saffa about the next steps for the bill.

"Those conversations are still ongoing," Hawk said. "I think we're gonna get to a conclusion that we'll all like, hopefully."

At the time of publication, an amended bill has not been filed.

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