The Michigan Lottery recently announced that they had raised more than $1.179 billion for local Michigan schools for their fiscal year in 2020. This is now the sixth consecutive year in a row that the Lottery has contributed to the School Aid Fund with increasing numbers.
In addition, this is the second year in a row that the Lottery has been able to grow more than $1 billion in aiding public education for a fiscal year. Indeed, this is another historic investment for many classrooms of K-12 education in the state.
Lottery Contributions to the School Aid Fund
Looking at the last five years, the Michigan Lottery has had the following growth of funds:
FY19: $1.070 billion
FY18: $941.28 million
FY17: $924.11 million
FY16: $888.91 million
FY15: $795.50 million
Dating back to 1972, the Michigan Lottery has been able to raise more than a combined effort of $24.5 billion for public education. In just the last six years alone, $5.8 billion or 23.6 percent of that amount had been raised in a historic turn of events.
The Michigan Lottery also provided a handful of other incredible records for the FY20. These include a rise in several other aspects, such as more than $4.2 billion in sales, a rise in $2.5 billion in prizes to players, and an increase to more than $307 million in commissions to lottery retailers spread out in Michigan.
Record Sales Lead to Large Increase in Funding
Thanks to a rise in player activity for FY20, the increase in funding was driven mostly by the Michigan Lottery’s internet platform and popular games. Just internet-based games had sales that increased by roughly 88 percent.
Instant win gaming sales alone also increased by roughly 23 percent as compared to FY19. The Michigan Lottery’s internet platform also had an influx of new player registrations, which of course led to increased activity among both online and at retail.
Breaking Down the Numbers
Looking at the record-setting year, you can see how each dollar played out. For example, each dollar that was spent on a Michigan Lottery ticket in FY20 can be approximately be broken down into:
- 61 cents to players as prizes
- 28 cents to the School Aid Fund in support of public education
- 9 cents to commission for retailers and vendors
- 2 cents helped fund the Lottery’s operations and other administrative costs
