KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The newsroom received some questions about the Tennessee Lottery on Thursday. While one viewer heard about how much they raised to benefit education, they wanted to know how much has been dispersed to help students.
The Tennessee Lottery said it raised more than $6.2 billion for education programs since it started. Since the fall of 2004, that money has been used to support 1.7 million grants and scholarships in schools across the state.
In the second quarter of the fiscal year 2022, officials also said they sent the second-highest transfer to the education account in its history. They said they transferred around $121 million. However, total revenue for that quarter was around $521 million.
The Tennessee Lotter said that out of every dollar spent on tickets, the largest portion is used to pay prizes. Other portions are used to pay retailer commissions and pay operating expenses.
However, out of the entire fiscal year last year, $482 million was sent to the education fund, according to the Tennessee Comptroller's Office. That same year, the letter spent $21 million on operating expenses and $17.5 million on the afterschool program account.