SACRAMENTO – The California State Lottery today announced another record year for sales by posting $3.56 billion in sales for fiscal year 2005-2006, a 7% increase over last year. Additionally, the California State Lottery will transfer more than $1.26 billion to public education, making this the sixth consecutive year the Lottery will contribute more than $1 billion.
“The California State Lottery is thrilled to announce these record-breaking sales,” said Joan Borucki, Acting Director of the California State Lottery. “Sales were the highest in our history, and most importantly, we will contribute more money to our schools than ever before. The amount of money being transferred this year to education, $1.26 billion, is a 7% increase over last year’s contribution.”
The highly popular Scratchers® games brought in more than $1.9 billion in sales, an increase of 10% and $174 million over last year! SuperLOTTO Plus® and MEGA Millions combined generated $1.18 billion, while Fantasy 5, Daily 3, Hot Spot and Daily Derby collectively brought in $470 million in sales.
Lottery officials attribute the gain in Scratchers sales to the popularity of $5 games and extended play Scratchers games such as Crossword and Bingo that feature higher prize payouts. The increase in the sales of Lotto-type games can be attributed to the addition of MEGA Millions and eight jackpots in excess of $200 million since the launch of the game last June.
Since California joined MEGA Millions, there have been four winning MEGA Millions jackpot tickets sold in our state. This included the $315 million jackpot won on November 15, 2005, making it the largest jackpot ever awarded in the history of the California State Lottery. The Big Spin® show closed out the fiscal year with 717 contestants winning more than $20 million in prize money, including 6 players who won $1 million or more. With an unprecedented $1.9 billion in prizes paid out in all games, more Lottery players that ever before experienced that “winning feeling.”
In this record year of sales and contributions to education, California businesses won too. The 18,500 California State Lottery retailers earned an unprecedented level of compensation -- $251 million.
The California State Lottery is required to provide at least 50% of overall sales to prize payouts and at least 34% to California’s public education. Since its creation in 1986, the Lottery has had total sales of nearly $50 billion and contributed more than $18 billion to California’s schools. For the past six consecutive years the Lottery has contributed more than $1 billion a year to public education.
Click here for some examples of the creative things California’s schools are doing with their Lottery contributions.