ATLANTA — Every day across the state people hope today could be the day when they purchase a Georgia Lottery ticket, but where does that money go and how much is it helping education in the state?
THE QUESTION
Where is all the lottery money going when it was supposed to go to schools, a lot of which are closing or closed?
THE SOURCES
- The Georgia Lottery Corporation
- Previous 11Alive reporting
THE ANSWER
No, while money from playing the Georgia Lottery doesn't go to support individual schools directly, it does go toward supporting education in the state through the Hope Scholarship and Pre-K programs.
WHAT WE FOUND
According to the Georgia Lottery Corporation, net proceeds from lottery sales are transferred to the state treasury's Lottery for Education account, for the money to fund Georgia's Hope Scholarship Program and Georgia's Pre-Kindergarten Program.
The corporation says it does not appropriate the funds or administer the programs it funds.
Here is how they say the money shakes out:
For the 2023 fiscal year, the Georgia Lottery sent $1.516 billion to the Lottery for Education Account -- the eighth straight year the lottery has surpassed $1 billion in profits for education.
The corporation says since its creation in 1993, $28 billion has been returned to the state for education, with more than 2.1 million students receiving the Hope Scholarship and more than 2 million 4-year-olds attending the statewide voluntary Pre-K Program.
So far this year, 11Alive has reported on at least four charter schools across metro Atlanta closing, or being in danger of doing so, but the Georgia Lottery Corporation does not fund the running of those schools.
Charter schools are funded by tax dollars and private fundraising.