May 22, 2013
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- An audit of the North Carolina Education Lottery shows the agency took in $1.5 billion in sales in fiscal 2012.
The State Auditor's office released its report Tuesday. It said the take for the previous fiscal years marked an increase of $135.6 million over 2011.
The report said the lottery's four cash transfers for the year reached $456.8 million, the largest transfer in the agency's history. For 2011, the cash transfer totaled $446.9 million.
According to the audit, the lottery awarded $1 million or more for the 110th time. It increased the number of retailers by 2.7 percent to 6,787. Also, the release of 49 new instant scratch-off games into the marketplace generated sales of $960 million.
By law, lottery funds pay for teachers’ salaries in grades K-3 to keep class size as small as possible, school construction, need-based college scholarships and financial aid, and academic prekindergarten for at-risk four-year-olds.
To date, the N.C. Education Lottery has raised more than $2.58 billion for these programs statewide.
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