Another year, another record for the Georgia Lottery as it announced $945.1 million in profits for the recently completed fiscal year to benefit the state’s HOPE Scholarship for college students and early childhood pre-k programs.
The total surpassed last year’s record mark by more than $18 million. The timing couldn’t be better, since the 21-year-old lottery continues straining to keep pace with rising college enrollment and tuition. Luckily, players’ thirst for games hasn’t slacked, either.
“We had record sales, surpassing $4 billion for the first time in our history,” lottery President and CEO Debbie D. Alford said Thursday.
Since 1993, some 3 million students have benefited from one or both of Georgia’s premier education programs, with the state lottery considered among the nation’s elite in sales per capita.
Profits going toward the programs have increased 19 out of 21 years, with 1998 and 2011 being the only exceptions.
For the fiscal year that ended June 30, Alford said the lottery benefited from players’ interest in several large jackpots, including a record Mega Millions jackpot in December that a Stone Mountain resident won. In all, 86 Georgia residents won prizes worth $1 million or more during the past fiscal year.
The lottery last year alone also launched 57 different scratch-off games, an effort that continues. In October, Georgia will be among the first states to launch a new national game called “Monopoly Millionaires Club.”
Alford also noted that Gov. Nathan Deal and lawmakers last year gave the lottery control and enforcement power over so-called coin-operated amusement machines in part to push more money toward HOPE and pre-k.
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