The South Carolina Education Lottery has reported its second best year of performance to date, raising $564m for educational support in the state through lottery ticket sales.
Celebrating its 20th year of operations, Fiscal Year 2022 saw the lottery take its total contributions to education in the state up to $7.2bn, following a successful year of sales.
This was aided by the launch of fresh products throughout the year; a new play feature, Fireball, was added to Pick 3 and Pick 4 and Double Play was added to Powerball.
Moreover, Powerball also added an extra draw on Mondays, whilst the new one-digit draw game, Cash Pop, which launched in January, ‘far exceeded sales expectations’.
“It’s been an incredible 20 years and amazing to think that in just the last two years we’ve raised more than a billion dollars for education,” said the Lottery’s Executive Director Hogan Brown.
“These funds have had an immeasurable impact in our state, now reaching two generations of parents and their children.”
Lottery players took home over $1.4bn in prize winnings during FY2022 and the lottery’s retail partners earned over $158m in commissions.
Contributions from the lottery will be deposited into the state’s Education Lottery Account, from which the General Assembly will make decisions on the support given to higher education scholarships and grants and K-12 education programmes.
Chairman of the SC Lottery Commission, Sam Litchfield added: “On behalf of the Board, what the Lottery was able to achieve again this year is excellent. In uncertain times, we have made another significant investment in education. And in that, we all win.”