Has there ever been a headline, where a state lost money on the lottery? 50% percent profit on every dollar spent would make that an impossibility. Yet states still manage to go into debt. Amazing.

The state never loses money, but they can and do sometimes not meet their budgetary targets.

With more and more states relying on lottery funds for their budgets, the state lotteries are under increasing pressure to bring in more money than the previous year.  It is considered a "loss" if they do not do so.  Just like if Microsoft did not sell as many copies of Windows as they expected.

Hopefully, with all the money these states have brought in recently, we see it helping the education system a bit more.

Not all states use lottery money for education; Penn gives it to the elderly. Having said that, remember, when they add money from the lottery for something, they take away normal funding for that same area and spend it some where else. The advantage is, the out-of-state ticket buyer doesn't complain about supplementing the state treasury.

 Just like if Microsoft did not sell as many copies of Windows as they expected.

Valid point. In my company, its called, not losing as much as projected.

Well, I was happy to see NE sales go to education after a PB winner. It was great for NE to get 50 cents profit per every dollar they sell in PB to education. I hope NE doesn't have a big budget deficit just like CA.

If Nebraska had a budget deficit the size of California's, NE would go bankrupt. Maybe its lottery would no longer exist.