The Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation (TEL) has raised $140.3m for designated education programs in Tennessee during the third quarter of the fiscal year 2021 (January 1-March 31), breaking previous records in the process.
The lottery’s FY2021 Q3 total beats its previous best transfer from FY2019 Q2 ($122,968,219) by more than $17m. The Q3 transfer includes $132,883,000 from the TEL for the Education Account and $7,417,000 for after-school programs.
The lottery has raised $5,875,423,000 for education in Tennessee since January 20, 2004, the day the lottery sold its first ticket.
President and CEO Rebecca Paul Hargrove said: “We began the third quarter with duelling jackpot rolls for Mega Millions and Powerball, which contributed to increased player excitement, and our March Instant Games Revenues were the highest of any month since inception.
“Our mission is to raise funds for the designated education programs we fund, and this is a great day for students all across Tennessee.”
The lottery’s players also collected $330,618,000 in prize winnings during Q3.
Its total revenues fiscal year-to-date stand at $1,524,989,000, up 16.1% over this time last year.FY2021 year-to-date totals for Lottery for Education proceeds are $356,774,000, while
total revenues for March 2021 were the second-highest since inception.
Since TEL’s inception, more than 1.5 million scholarships and grants have been awarded with lottery funds and more than 150,000 of the state’s students benefited in the 2019-2020 school year alone.
Back in March, Scientific Games Corporation agreed to a five-year extension to its instant games and services contract with the TEL.