Tennessee Lottery: Tennessee Lottery transfers $51 million for scholarshipsThe Tennessee Lottery transferred $51.3 million Friday to fund college scholarships, bringing the total amount generated for education to more than $174 million, officials said.
So far, some 47,000 Tennessee students have received lottery-funded awards during the program's first semester of funding. Another $2 million has been transferred to fund after-school programs for younger students, as dictated by the legislation approving the games.
"The excitement about this transfer is matched only by the enthusiasm of the families and students who continue to share their stories about the new education programs available," said lottery President and CEO Rebecca Paul.
The lottery originally was charged with raising $88 million to fund the scholarships' first semester - a goal it accomplished in July with the transfer of more than $120 million from the first six months of operation.
But the latest $51.3 million deposit is less than the lottery collected in it first two quarters - $64 million and $59.5 million, respectively.
Lottery spokeswoman Kym Gerlock says the decrease was expected because the lottery ticket buying habits change during the summer. First quarter revenues were much higher than normal because of excitement over the games' launch, she said.
Friday's transfer puts the lottery just over a quarter of the way to its $200 million budgeted goal for the 2004-2005 fiscal year, which began July 1.
"We're continuing to raise more than enough for what (the state) needs for the scholarship program," Gerlock said. "At this pace we're looking really good."
Since the lottery began, approximately $322.4 million has been handed out as prize money and about $39.7 million has been paid in retailer commissions.
