The Florida Lottery has highlighted the achievements reached in the 2021 legislative session, during which Governor DeSantis signed the fiscal year 2021-2022 state budget.
These accomplishments include Florida Lottery Secretary John F Davis‘ Senate confirmation as well as fiscal items of an additional $10.3m investment that will further assist the lottery’s goal of maximising revenues for the enhancement of education in the Sunshine State.
Davis commented: “I appreciate and value the support Governor DeSantis and the legislature have for the lottery, and I am honoured to lead this agency in its mission to maximize revenues to enhance education in Florida. The lottery takes great pride in being one of the most efficient lotteries in the nation – currently operating on less than 1% of revenues.
“We also recognize that there is always room for growth and that we must continue to meet the needs of our consumers in order to carry out our mission of generating additional funding for students and schools. Once again, I want to extend my gratitude to the Governor for his continued support. The items in the fiscal year 2021-2022 budget will help to improve core business operations and strengthen the lottery’s commitment to education.”
Secretary Davis was officially confirmed by the Senate during the 2021 legislative session, solidifying Governor DeSantis’ appointment.
The legislature also approved the lottery’s budget items recommended in Governor DeSantis’ Florida Leads budget, which supports the lottery through an additional $10.3m investment.
The investment includes the authorization to begin procurement of a new prize payment system, replacing the lottery’s current set up with a new claims and payment framework that will provide players with state-of-the-art payment options and improved processing capabilities.
The lottery will also receive $130,000 to begin the implementation and transition of its primary data centre infrastructure securely to the cloud, the first step to implementing a multi-year strategy that aligns with the Governor and legislature’s cloud-first policy.
$250,000 will also be awarded to the lottery to complete a comprehensive security evaluation as required in Section 24.108(7), Florida Statutes. This statutorily required independent security audit, which is conducted every two years, evaluates all aspects of its physical and data security.
Back in May, Florida Lottery 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.
