Celebrating fun for a good cause

It’s National Lottery Day, and we here at the North Carolina Education Lottery want to thank you for your support.

Here in North Carolina, you don’t just play the lottery. You invest in a great cause. Education. It’s in our name because it’s what we believe in for a better, brighter future.

Your lottery now raises more than $700 million a year for education. What does that mean? During the 2019 school year, it meant:

• 13,427 four-year-olds across the state received a free, academic pre-school experience last year;
• all counties got help building and repairing schools from the $240.6 million dedicated to school construction. McDowell County, for example, got $15 million to help build the new Old Fort Elementary School, Caldwell County got $15 million for a new Granite Falls Middle School, and Nash-Rocky Mount Public Schools in Nash County got $10 million for a new Red Oaks Elementary School;
• 74,352 scholarships and grants helped students make college more affordable;
• schools received $386 million to make covering the costs of support staff such as office assistants, custodians, and substitute teachers easier and $21.4 million to help pay for school transportation.

Across the U.S., 45 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands all have lotteries that generate funding for different programs dedicated to education, the environment, health care, programs for seniors, cultural activities, and more. Last year, U.S. lotteries generated $25.1 billion for those good causes. About 95% of funds generated from traditional U.S. lottery games goes back into the economy through prizes, public beneficiaries, and retailer commissions.