The Florida Lottery has reached a record $2bn in contributions to the state’s Educational Enhancement Trust Fund (EETF) during 2020-21 trading, marking the first time in the lottery’s 33-year history that education contributions for a single fiscal year have reached $2bn.
Back in December, the Sunshine State lottery reached the $1bn mark for this fiscal year, one month earlier than any other year in its history.
Secretary John F Davis commented: “This is a tremendous accomplishment for the Lottery, but more importantly, for students and schools in our great state.
“For the past three decades, the Lottery’s core focus has been to maximize revenues for the enhancement of education in Florida, and this year is certainly one for the record books, marking our largest contribution yet.
“This historic milestone would not have been possible without the support of our loyal players, committed retail and vendor partners, and hardworking employees.”
For 10 consecutive months this year, the lottery has experienced double-digit growth with total sales to date 23%, or $1.52bn, higher than the same period last year. In February, it set a national single-week scratch-off sales record of $193.5m.
These increased sales translated into record education contributions. In January, the lottery’s EETF transfers exceeded $269m, the largest contribution to the EETF in the lottery’s 33-year history, beating the January 2016 transfer during the world-record $1.58bn Powerball jackpot series by $31m.
The lottery has averaged approximately $6m a day to benefit education this past fiscal year.
Since 1988, the lottery has established itself as a committed and dependable funding source for public education, contributing more than $1bn annually for the past 19 consecutive years while remaining one of the most efficiently operated lotteries in the country.