A struggling economy hasn't kept Georgians from buying lottery tickets.

The Georgia Lottery announced Tuesday that sales for fiscal 2008, which ended June 30, were just under $3.52 billion, a record in the 15-year history of the games.

That's more than $97.6 million ahead of last year's record sales.

The Georgia Lottery transferred $858 million of that to the state for education programs, surpassing last year's record transfer by more than $4.8 million.

Lottery proceeds pay for the HOPE college scholarship program and pre-kindergarten classes for four-year-olds.

The rest of the sales money goes back into prizes and pays for advertising and administrative costs associated with running the lottery.

Gov. Sonny Perdue joined lottery officials at a news conference Tuesday morning announcing the sales and the fact that $10 billion has now been transferred from the lottery to the state for education programs over the past 15 years.

"The Georgia Lottery Corporation has a success formula that works and delivers results for Georgia's students and families," said Lottery Corp. CEO Margaret DeFrancisco. "Lottery-funded HOPE Scholarships and pre-K programs have made a fundamental difference in the lives of so many Georgians. The transfer of our $10 billionth dollar to education is a tremendous accomplishment that we can all celebrate."