The Illinois Lottery returned $834m to the State of Illinois in FY2022, its highest-ever fiscal year contribution.
As announced on the Illinois Lottery website, this achievement marks a 7% increase over the prior year, aided by record-breaking half-year sales.
“The year’s record high lottery returns provide important funding for schools, capital projects, and other essential causes throughout the state,” explained JB Pritzker, Governor of Illinois.
“Lottery contributions mean more support for K-12 education in Illinois, and more resources going to programmes like Special Olympics and Alzheimer’s research.
“These resources are an essential part of building a sustainable future for Illinois, and I’m appreciative of the Illinois Lottery’s support in helping to fund these programmes.”
The Common School Fund, which helps to fund education-related expenses for K-12 education in Illinois, received its full prescribed amount of funding for FY2022 – $775m.
The eight good causes that the Illinois Lottery supports through the sale of specialty scratch tickets will benefit from an estimated $10m in proceeds.
The Capital Projects Fund, which helps to fund infrastructure projects in Illinois, is estimated to receive the remaining proceeds of $49m.
“While we are proud of the millions of dollars we will provide to the Capital Projects Fund this year, starting in the financial year 2023 all Illinois Lottery proceeds outside of the sale of specialty scratch tickets will go to the Common School Fund,” said Illinois Lottery Director Harold Mays.
“This change will mean that almost 99% of lottery proceeds will go to supplement education funding.”
The Illinois Lottery also supports Illinois Veterans services, the fight against breast cancer, MS research, police memorials, HIV/AIDS support programs, and homelessness prevention programmes through the sale of specialty scratch tickets.
Meanwhile, the Illinois Lottery made 72 new millionaires in FY2022 – 20 more than in FY2021, with $2.2bn paid out in prizes to Illinois players.
Part of the lottery’s recent success hails from its ilottery platform and, with Camelot Illinois as its operating partner, another digital milestone was reached in FY2022 with online sales of $279m, a 64% increase over the prior year.
“Online lottery play is an integral and growing segment of the Illinois Lottery’s offering,” said Keith Horton, General Manager Camelot Illinois.
“Regular technology updates to the online platform improve the player experience and have helped drive growth over the past few years.
“We provide convenience and choice for players to play in retail or online, which strengthens the lottery’s ability to generate funding for education.”