California Schools Won $1-Billion Payoff From Lottery During Year

The California State Lottery hit the jackpot in the last fiscal year as revenues reached $2.6 billion, lottery Executive Director Chon Gutierrez announced Wednesday in San Diego.

Record-breaking fiscal 1988-89 lottery sales for the first time provided more than $1 billion to the state’s public education system, Gutierrez said. “We had a terrific year, the best one yet.”

The San Diego Unified School District is the second-largest recipient of lottery money, trailing only Los Angeles schools, according to Lottery figures. San Diego city schools will receive more than $20 million from 1988-89 lottery proceeds, part of the $78 million due schools in San Diego County.

School officials have already included the anticipated lottery revenues in the district’s current $540 million budget, said Acting Supt. Cathy Hopper. The money is not designated for specific projects, and is used simply to balance the books, Hopper said.

By law, at least 34% of lottery revenues is earmarked for public education, but that number rose to 40% last year, according to Gutierrez. The lottery awarded half of its income to prize winners and spent 10% on expenses, he said.

The lottery’s contributions to public schools rose by a third from the 1987-88 fiscal year, Gutierrez said. Lottery funds make up 3% of school budgets throughout the state.

The lottery distributes money to the school systems based on their size. For the fiscal year that ended June 30, districts earned $181 from the lottery for every student enrolled.

Lottery surveys show that 60% of Californians played the weekly Lotto or an instant game within the last month, according to Gutierrez. Although state residents are still buying only a third as many tickets per-capita as players in Ohio and Massachusetts, sales for July point to the current fiscal year being another record breaker, he said.

However, Hopper said lottery experts have warned her district not to expect another record-breaking year. “A lot of people have been telling us that the lottery has peaked,” she said.

Gutierrez disagreed. He said fully automated, self-service Lotto machines due in San Diego within months, and a daily drawing game set to begin next year will push sales higher.