Fla. Lottery sales top $5 billion for first time

Jul 9, 2013, 7:51 am (6 comments)

Florida Lottery

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Lottery topped $5 billion in sales for the first time during the fiscal year that ended June 30, the department announced Monday.

A record $1.41 billion is expected to go into the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund, the Lottery reported

Both amounts top the previous highs reached the year before, when sales were $4.45 billion and education transfers were $1.31 billion.

In two fiscal years, the Florida Lottery has increased sales by $1 billion. That's the fastest pace to one billion dollars in 25 years of existence.

Lottery contributions have made an impact with more than $1 billion being transferred annually to the EETF for the past eleven consecutive fiscal years, representing approximately six percent of the state's total education budget.

"The Lottery's sole mission is to sell tickets to generate additional funding for education," Florida Lottery Secretary Cynthia O'Connell said in a news release. "We are extremely proud to be able to transfer this unprecedented amount to the Education Enhancement Trust Fund this year."

Gov. Rick Scott said in a release that the increased revenue for Florida's education system means more students will have the opportunity to get a quality education.

"The Lottery's education investments build on our success last session to increase state education investments by more than $1 billion and provide teachers with a well-deserved pay raise," Scott said.

AP

Comments

RedStang's avatarRedStang

That's alot of losers.

JoeBigLotto's avatarJoeBigLotto

Quote: Originally posted by RedStang on Jul 9, 2013

That's alot of losers.

Not really florida is a retirement state and most of them stay alife by gambling away their time. And florida is ammong the luckiest place to win money and they hold the record last powerball winner . And people are complaining that winners are always from florida and this is evidence that to win more you have to spend more . So it is not magic if you invest more money in your gambling budget your out come will follow unless luck is against you but the florida pink flamingo won't let the luck to be against you so PLAY ON FLORIDA . Hurrey

stunna6036's avatarstunna6036

I'm not so sure if this is a good thing or bad.  Rather than concentrate on on record sales and education how about concentrating on having more lottery winners. As a lottery player I can care less that the money goes to education.

CLETU$

Quote: Originally posted by stunna6036 on Jul 9, 2013

I'm not so sure if this is a good thing or bad.  Rather than concentrate on on record sales and education how about concentrating on having more lottery winners. As a lottery player I can care less that the money goes to education.

I agree,it's all about winning for me,too.

rdgrnr's avatarrdgrnr

Quote: Originally posted by stunna6036 on Jul 9, 2013

I'm not so sure if this is a good thing or bad.  Rather than concentrate on on record sales and education how about concentrating on having more lottery winners. As a lottery player I can care less that the money goes to education.

"As a lottery player I can care less that the money goes to education."

I agree, especially since it's not education anymore but indoctrination.

And they keep coming out stupider than the year before.

The more money we throw at education, the stupider they get.

jamella724

Congratulations to Florida lottery! With the fund that they have transferred to Education Enhancemnet Trust Fund they can provide a lot of scholarships to more students. The state can also fund new projects with the increase of revenue. With this increase in sales the staff of the lottery should have an increase too.

End of comments
Subscribe to this news story