Lottery Gives $98M to Schools

Raleigh, N.C. — The North Carolina Education Lottery transferred almost $98 million to schools statewide for the first three months of 2008, marking the largest transfer of proceeds yet from the two-year-old games.

Gross sales for the quarter were $315 million, setting a record for the lottery, officials said. For the fiscal year, sales are $114 million ahead of the pace set a year ago.

To date, the lottery has raised $628 million for public schools in North Carolina, officials said.

“We are incredibly proud to have raised this amount of money for education in just two years of operations,” lottery director Tom Shaheen said in a statement. “All of us at the lottery are ecstatic that our efforts to increase sales are really starting to pay off."