Virginia Lottery achieves record sales, profits

The Virginia Lottery recorded record sales and profits during Fiscal Year 2019, which ended June 30, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced this week.

The lottery sold $2.29 billion in tickets and earned profits of nearly $650 million – a seven percent increase from last year's profits of $606 million. Lottery profits are dedicated to education in the state. (In FY 2018, Henrico County received $21.57 million in lottery funds designated for education.)

“Students and teachers in every part of our Commonwealth continue to benefit from the Virginia Lottery’s record-high proceeds, and with an increase in the Lottery per Pupil Allocation, our school districts have more flexibility to use Lottery profits to meet their diverse needs,” said Northam. “With this funding we are not only supporting a variety of important programs in our public schools, we are also making critical investments in our young Virginians and expanding opportunities for them to succeed.”

Approximately 10 percent of Virginia’s education budget comes from the Lottery. Virginia businesses that sell Lottery tickets—some 5,300 retailers—earned nearly $130 million in commissions and incentives in Fiscal Year 2019. Players also benefitted, as roughly 60 cents of each dollar spent on lottery tickets in Virginia goes right back to customers in the form of prizes. Lottery players won more than $1.4 billion in prizes, including 45 tickets that each won at least $1 million.

“The Lottery is a great partner in education across the Commonwealth,” said Secretary of Education Atif Qarni. “In addition to the Lottery Proceeds Fund, the Virginia Lottery supports a variety of events, professional development conferences, and campaigns that directly benefit our students, teachers, and administrators.”

A new way of playing the Lottery was unveiled during the year with MobilePlay, which utilizes Bluetooth technology to allow people to play securely on the Lottery’s mobile app using their smartphone or personal device while located on the premises of a licensed retailer.

“As the competitive environment for gaming continues to evolve in Virginia, the Lottery remains a successful, well-run business and a proven, trusted brand,” said Virginia Lottery Executive Director Kevin Hall. “We’re working to develop and deliver new types of games in new ways using new technology to meet customers where they are today. We provide good fun for a great purpose, and that is to generate additional funds for K-12 education in the Commonwealth.”

Virginia’s two biggest wins of the year were both $10 million. Charles Martin of Amelia Courthouse won it when he scratched an Extreme Millions ticket that he bought in Blackstone in September. In July, Juanita Simpson and Sharon Calhoun, both of Virginia Beach, split the $10 million top prize in the 100X the Money Scratcher game. Their winning ticket was bought in Newport News.

Lottery operating expenses are consistently about five percent of total sales, according to state officials – well below the limit set by Virginia law. The Lottery operates entirely on revenue from the sale of its products and not on tax dollars.