Schools, scholarships, pre-K, colleges and education funds are among the most common destinations.
U.S. Lottery Money • State-by-State Research
There is no single American answer to “where does lottery money go?” One state funds schools, another supports parks, another helps older residents, and another uses proceeds for property-tax relief. Explore the common FY2024 dataset below.
One country, many lottery models
U.S. lotteries are created and governed at state or jurisdiction level. NASPL says beneficiary rules are set through lottery legislation, regulations and constitutions. That produces a patchwork of public purposes rather than one national Good Causes fund.
Schools, scholarships, pre-K, colleges and education funds are among the most common destinations.
Colorado and Minnesota show how lottery proceeds can support parks, wildlife and natural resources.
Pennsylvania is the standout example, dedicating lottery proceeds exclusively to programs for older residents.
Wisconsin uses lottery proceeds for property-tax relief rather than a school-only model.
Wyoming distributes proceeds to cities, towns and counties.
Some lottery profits enter a General Fund and support a broad range of public services.
Many states divide proceeds between education, veterans, health, public safety, environment and other causes.
Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah currently have no state lottery.
Interactive state explorer
The tile map uses an MLL primary category to make the different models easy to scan. Click a state for its FY2024 transfer and beneficiary summary. Colors are an editorial navigation aid, not an official NASPL classification.
Education
Education; lottery revenue is distributed to local school districts through the state's education-aid formula.
FY2024 NASPL transfer total.This is a tile map for comparison, not a geographic boundary map. Alaska and Hawaii are shown separately; D.C. is included. Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands appear in the full table because NASPL lists beneficiaries but no comparable FY2024 total for them.
The biggest FY2024 beneficiary transfers
These are whole-jurisdiction FY2024 beneficiary transfers from NASPL, not Powerball or Mega Millions-only numbers.
Four very different examples
Education. New York says lottery revenue is distributed to local school districts through the state aid formula.
Great Outdoors Colorado, parks, conservation, wildlife and school capital construction.
Programs exclusively benefiting older Pennsylvanians, including transit, prescriptions and senior services.
Public benefit made available for property-tax relief.
Who controls the destination?
The answer is much more structural than “the lottery company chooses.” NASPL says beneficiary recipients are established through the jurisdiction's legal and regulatory framework.
State legislation or constitutional provisions establish the lottery and can dedicate proceeds to specific purposes.
The jurisdiction's lottery rules and regulations implement the statutory requirements.
Money can flow to a dedicated education, conservation, senior or other fund — or into a broader General Fund.
The final public impact can be schools, scholarships, parks, tax relief, veteran services, cities and many other programs.
Full comparison
Search the whole dataset or sort it by name or transfer amount. The five states without state lotteries are shown explicitly rather than simply disappearing from the table.
| State / jurisdiction | FY2024 transfer | MLL primary category | Published beneficiaries / uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | No state lottery | No state lottery | No state lottery. |
| Alaska | No state lottery | No state lottery | No state lottery. |
| Arizona | $314,890,645 | Multiple / mixed purposes | Education; health and welfare; natural resources; public safety; economic development; homeless shelters; mass transit; tribal college enrollment and other statutory funds. |
| Arkansas | $129,404,053 | Education | Educational Trust Fund; Workforce Challenge Trust Account; Lottery Scholarship Trust Account. |
| California | $2,279,865,330 | Education | Public education through the Education Fund. |
| Colorado | $196,388,272 | Environment / conservation | Conservation Trust Fund; Great Outdoors Colorado; parks and recreation; wildlife; school capital construction. |
| Connecticut | $390,297,000 | General government | General Fund supporting education, roads, health and hospitals, public safety and other state services. |
| Delaware | $246,659,388 | Multiple / mixed purposes | General Fund; health and social services including problem-gambling programs; agriculture. |
| District of Columbia | $38,800,000 | General government | District General Fund. |
| Florida | $2,386,585,000 | Education | Education Enhancement Trust Fund, supporting K-12, colleges/universities and programs including Bright Futures. |
| Georgia | $1,491,126,227 | Education | HOPE Scholarships and grants; Pre-Kindergarten; Lottery for Education Account. |
| Hawaii | No state lottery | No state lottery | No state lottery. |
| Idaho | $84,000,000 | Education | Public buildings and public schools (K-12). |
| Illinois | $883,734,219 | Multiple / mixed purposes | Common School Fund plus veterans, MS research, breast-cancer support, Special Olympics, homelessness prevention, STEAM, Alzheimer's awareness and other special causes. |
| Indiana | $363,968,000 | Multiple / mixed purposes | Build Indiana Fund; police and firefighters pension; teachers pension; Lottery Surplus Fund. |
| Iowa | $106,622,008 | Multiple / mixed purposes | General Fund; Veterans Trust Fund; public-safety survivor benefits; Department of Corrections survivor benefits. |
| Kansas | $90,568,318 | Multiple / mixed purposes | State transfers and General Fund; veterans programs; mental-health programs. |
| Kentucky | $405,415,000 | Education | Education and General Fund programs; literacy and early-childhood reading; post-secondary and college scholarships; Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority. |
| Louisiana | $204,831,766 | Education | State transfers required by law, with lottery proceeds primarily dedicated to the Minimum Foundation Program for K-12 education; problem-gambling funding also applies. |
| Maine | $90,082,479 | Multiple / mixed purposes | General Fund and Outdoor Heritage Fund. |
| Maryland | $1,491,101,063 | Multiple / mixed purposes | Education Trust Fund, General Fund, local impact grants, schools, responsible gaming, small/minority/women-owned businesses, veterans and other programs. |
| Massachusetts | $1,159,701,000 | General government | General Fund; cities and towns; Arts Council; compulsive-gambling programs. |
| Michigan | $1,230,048,433 | Multiple / mixed purposes | Education (K-12), General Fund and health/human-services programs. |
| Minnesota | $196,524,505 | Environment / conservation | Environmental and Natural Resources Trust Fund; Game & Fish Fund; Natural Resources Fund; General Fund; compulsive-gambling programs. |
| Mississippi | $125,102,375 | Multiple / mixed purposes | Road and bridge construction/repair and the Education Enhancement Fund. |
| Missouri | $389,788,014 | Education | Public education in Missouri. |
| Montana | $21,562,432 | General government | State of Montana General Fund. |
| Nebraska | $55,324,273 | Multiple / mixed purposes | Education Improvement/Innovation funds; Environmental Trust Fund; Nebraska Opportunity Grant; State Fair; compulsive-gambling assistance. |
| Nevada | No state lottery | No state lottery | No state lottery. |
| New Hampshire | $207,769,662 | Education | Education. |
| New Jersey | $1,172,000,000 | Education | Education and institutions. |
| New Mexico | $51,084,059 | Education | Lottery Tuition Fund; public-school capital outlay; New Mexico Legislative Lottery Scholarship Program. |
| New York | $3,775,370,000 | Education | Education; lottery revenue is distributed to local school districts through the state's education-aid formula. |
| North Carolina | $1,144,937,507 | Education | Education, including teacher salaries, school construction/transportation, scholarships and pre-K; also problem-gambling and alcohol-law-enforcement allocations. |
| North Dakota | $9,920,000 | General government | General Fund; compulsive-gambling fund; drug task force. |
| Ohio | $1,518,582,427 | Education | Lottery Profits Education Fund supporting education. |
| Oklahoma | $88,442,671 | Education | Education and mental-health programs. |
| Oregon | $950,195,421 | Multiple / mixed purposes | Economic development; parks and natural resources; public education; gambling-addiction prevention/treatment; veterans services. |
| Pennsylvania | $1,220,502,405 | Older residents | Programs for older Pennsylvanians, including property-tax/rent rebates, transit, prescription assistance, long-term living services and senior centers. |
| Rhode Island | $426,419,555 | General government | General Fund. |
| South Carolina | $590,463,837 | Education | Education Lottery Fund. |
| South Dakota | $183,691,691 | Multiple / mixed purposes | Capital Construction Fund; General Fund; human-services grants; property-tax reduction. |
| Tennessee | $519,322,000 | Education | After-school programs and Lottery for Education Account. |
| Texas | $2,007,344,568 | Education | Foundation School Fund; General Revenue Fund; multicategorical teaching hospital; Veterans Assistance Fund. |
| Utah | No state lottery | No state lottery | No state lottery. |
| Vermont | $35,056,938 | Education | Education Fund. |
| Virginia | $1,127,725,179 | Education | Direct aid to public education K-12 and General Fund. |
| Washington | $255,534,206 | Multiple / mixed purposes | Economic Development Reserve Account; K-12 education; General Fund; problem-gambling programs. |
| West Virginia | $569,419,000 | Multiple / mixed purposes | Education, senior citizens, tourism and other programs. |
| Wisconsin | $365,797,971 | Tax relief | Property-tax relief for eligible Wisconsin taxpayers. |
| Wyoming | $6,062,900 | Local government | Wyoming cities, towns and counties. |
| Puerto Rico | N/A | Territory / mixed | Published beneficiaries include housing/development, municipal equity, University of Puerto Rico scholarships, sports and Olympic programs, general fund and other causes. |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | N/A | Territory / mixed | NASPL's FY2024 page shows no beneficiary information available. |
Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are included because NASPL lists them as lottery jurisdictions, but the FY2024 “Where the Money Goes” page does not provide a comparable beneficiary-transfer total for either. In some jurisdictions NASPL member reporting can include lottery-administered gaming channels beyond traditional lottery tickets.
Where national games fit in
The big multi-state games are national in their drawings, but their local economics still plug back into the lottery that sold the ticket.
Powerball says more than half of ticket proceeds remain in the selling jurisdiction, helping fund public programs and services.
Mega Millions says half of each ticket's proceeds remains in the selling jurisdiction for designated good causes and retailer commissions.
Scratch tickets, draw games and other lottery products also feed the same jurisdiction-level beneficiary structure.
Tax on a jackpot winner is a different question from where lottery proceeds go after ticket sales.
Research transparency
We use NASPL's common fiscal-year dataset rather than mixing different years for different states.
These totals are state/jurisdiction transfers, not a breakdown of Powerball or Mega Millions alone.
A state can have several beneficiaries. The map color shows MLL's primary category for navigation only.
Some lottery organizations administer gaming channels beyond traditional lottery tickets, so perfect apples-to-apples accounting is not always possible.
Questions about state lottery money
Click a question to reveal the answer.
It depends on the jurisdiction. Lottery proceeds can support education, scholarships, parks and conservation, programs for older residents and veterans, health and social programs, property-tax relief, local government, general funds and other purposes.
NASPL says the recipients of lottery proceeds are specified through each jurisdiction's lottery legislation, lottery rules and regulations, and state or provincial constitutions. The lottery operator does not simply choose beneficiaries at will.
NASPL reports that U.S. lotteries transferred almost $30.6 billion to beneficiaries in fiscal year 2024. The state and D.C. figures in this page's dataset sum to about $30.598 billion.
NASPL reports more than $113.3 billion in U.S. lottery sales in fiscal year 2024.
No. Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah do not currently operate state lotteries. Washington, D.C. has a lottery, and Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands also operate lottery systems.
No. Education is a major beneficiary in many states, but Pennsylvania focuses on programs for older residents, Colorado directs substantial proceeds to parks and conservation, Wisconsin uses lottery proceeds for property-tax relief, and Wyoming distributes proceeds to cities, towns and counties.
New York had the largest published U.S. total in NASPL's FY2024 beneficiary dataset at $3.775 billion, followed by Florida at $2.387 billion and California at $2.280 billion.
No. The state figures are whole-jurisdiction lottery beneficiary transfers reported by NASPL. They are not Powerball-only or Mega Millions-only totals.
NASPL provides a useful common FY2024 baseline, but individual member lotteries can administer different product mixes. In some jurisdictions, reported figures can include lottery-administered gaming channels beyond traditional draw and scratch games, so the totals should be treated as jurisdiction-level beneficiary data rather than identical accounting units.
NASPL says retailer commissions typically range from about 5% to 8% depending on the jurisdiction and product. Retailers may also receive compensation for cashing tickets, selling major winners or exceeding sales goals.
Powerball says more than half of every $2 U.S. ticket remains in the jurisdiction where it was sold and helps fund public programs and services. The exact beneficiary depends on that jurisdiction's lottery rules.
Mega Millions states that half of the proceeds from each current $5 ticket remains in the selling jurisdiction, supporting designated good causes and retailer commissions. The precise internal split varies by jurisdiction.
Rules vary by jurisdiction. NASPL says unclaimed prizes can return to future prize pools in some lotteries, while in others the money goes to government or to the causes supported by the lottery.
Not exactly. Buying a lottery ticket is voluntary, while taxes are compulsory. Some states transfer lottery net proceeds into general or dedicated public funds, but those transfers are a separate revenue stream from ordinary taxation.
Primary sources
The quantitative state table is built from NASPL's FY2024 common dataset. Individual NASPL member pages are used to clarify several unusual state models.