Martha Keller is a 78-year-old resident of Altoona, Pa., who frequently takes the bus from her apartment on Walnut Avenue to her doctor's office or the local senior center. Chandni Amin is a 19-year-old nursing student at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

Keller and Amin have little in common save for one thing — both are benefiting directly from money raised by state lotteries. Lotteries help pay for everything from education to economic development, buses to baseball stadiums.

In Pennsylvania, lottery profits go exclusively to programs for senior citizens. That includes free bus rides on Altoona's metro transit system. Keller said the buses not only allow her to get out and about, they have also expanded her network of friends. Because she is the first picked up and the last dropped off, she has gotten to know other frequent riders.

"Where would I go without it?" Keller said. "I would be sitting in this building."

Amin is a junior at Georgia State. She and her brother both received scholarships paid for by Georgia's lottery profits.

Students who maintain a 3.0 grade-point average in high school can qualify for the "Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally" — or HOPE — scholarships. The scholarships pay full tuition at state colleges and $3,000 toward tuition at private schools, among other things.

Amin said her parents made her aware of the scholarships — and the need to maintain good grades — early on in her schooling.

She could have gone to college without the scholarship, Amin said, "but I wouldn't have had as much freedom."

"My brother graduated, and he doesn't have a single loan," she said. "He has that freedom not to worry about it."