New York State Lottery Tickets – A Gamble For Education

Having begun in 1967, the New York State Lottery was  one of the first government-run lotteries in the United States. In 1966 the citizens of new York voted to establish a government-run lottery, specifying that the proceeds of any such lottery would be used exclusively for education. Because of this, in 1967 a State Lottery Commission was created and given full authority over administration of the lottery and New York state lottery tickets.

In the early 19th century private lotteries were legal in the United States. New types of lottery were even granted U. S. Patents. In years prior to the 20th century, lotteries were commonly used in New York to elicit funds for public needs such as building and repairing canals, roads, bridges and ferries. The New York City Hall was partially paid for with proceeds from a lottery. Lotteries were additionally held for private enterprises such as building or improving churches, or developing New York City’s manufacturing industries.

Today, players purchasing New York State lottery tickets can choose from a variety of games: Mega Millions, Powerball, Sweet Millions, Lotto, Take Five, Numbers, Win 4, Quick Draw, Pick 10, and Instants (or “scratchers”). Scratchers were first introduced as New York State lottery tickets in the 1970s. Their “instant gratification” factor makes them a favorite of lottery players, making them a chief source of lottery revenue.

New York State lottery announced its 2010 earnings with pride. The traditional lottery games, including New York State lottery tickets reported sales of $6.78 billion with profits of $2.17 billion – an increase of $86 million and $87.4 million respectively over last year. The video gaming portion of the industry’s profit totaled $1.04 billion – an increase of $72.2 million over the previous fiscal year.

If you’re wondering where all that lottery money goes, 96% of the combined sales and “net win” from the New York State lottery tickets was returned to players in the form of prizes, aid to education, and commission to retailers. The operation of the Lottery, including advertising, marketing, printing, communications, finance, and administration, is funded from less than 4% of sales of New York State lottery tickets.

Schools receive money from the sale of New York State lottery tickets according to a statutory formula which is used to distribute to other state aid to educational resources. This formula ensures that large, low-income school districts receive proportionately larger shares of Lottery school funding.

New York State lottery tickets are North America’s largest lottery. Since its inception in 1967, the sale of New York State lottery tickets and other lottery products have brought over $39 billion to aid the cause of education. The lottery handed over almost $2.67 billion for the 2009-2010 fiscal year to aid education in New York State – an impressive 12% of the state funding to local school districts.

Buying New York State Lottery Tickets

With all this discussion of laws and finances, we’ve overlooked one thing: how the players feel about buying New York State lottery tickets. Perhaps this is best illustrated in the story of a Manhattan deli clerk who sold himself the largest winning scratcher in the history of New York State lottery tickets. The 22 year old clerk purchased the ticket as a gift to himself while working alone on New Year’s Eve in Harlem. He was so astounded when he scratched the winning symbol that he kept his win a secret for two days. “It was a good surprise”, the clerk said, “I’m going to start living good”. As long as the winnings keep rolling in, it seems, the dream remains alive.
New York State Lottery Tickets

Buy New York State Lottery Tickets From: TheLotter

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