NC lottery sets records for sales, prizes and education funding

The state lottery pulled in $4.3 billion in revenue during the most recent fiscal year — a single-year record that fueled more than $1 billion in funding for education programs, the North Carolina Education Lottery Commission reported Wednesday.

The increase is up about 13% from the previous fiscal year, which was the previous record. The results were announced at a Wednesday lottery commission meeting.

"We had a very good year last year," executive director Mark Michalko said.

Sales in multi-state jackpot drawings, Powerball and Mega Millions, helped fuel the increase. Mega Million sales topped $176.5 million, up from $83.3 million the year before. Powerball sales topped $231 million, up from $180 million the previous year.

There were three jackpots of more than $1 billion, totaling seven drawings, in the fiscal year.

The frequency of large jackpots is leading to some diminishing sales, several officials said. Wednesday's Powerball drawing is $850 million.

"We're not seeing the same level of sales per jackpot," said Greg Bowers, the lottery's deputy executive director of finance, administration and security. "We're not seeing the same kind of interest at those jackpot levels."

Scratch-off games (or instant games) are the top seller for the lottery, accounting for $2.98 billion in sales and more than 68% of total revenue.

The performance also helped the state reach another milestone: more than $10 billion for the state since the lottery started in 2006.

Seven types of education programs received money from the lottery for the fiscal year: $386 million for non-instructional support personnel, $338 million for needs-based school construction, $100 million for public school building capital fund, $78 million for pre-kindergarten program, $50 million for public school repair and renovation, $41 million for scholarship reserve fund for public colleges and universities and $21 million for transportation.

The commission reported record prizes of $2.8 billion, or $7.8 million a day on average, during the fiscal year that ended June 30. Record commissions and incentives to retailers of $295.2 million were also reported.

The commission is moving forward with its plans to sell digital instant games in November. State lawmakers expressed some concerns about the games and included language to "limit online lottery games" in the recently passed budget. The new language outlaws the lottery from offering "casino-style table games" online.

The language was intended to prohibit the lottery from entering the iGaming space and not to stop the digital instants, Hayden Bauguess, the lottery's director of governmental affairs, told the commission on Wednesday. Bauguess said the lottery worked with the Senate on the language.

The commission is also tasked with regulating and administering online sports gambling in the state. The commission created an internal sports betting committee. Sports betting in the state can begin as soon as Jan. 8 and no later than June 15.