The Tennessee Education Lottery (TEL) has set a new record for its total annual transfer to the Lottery for Education Account in the 2021 fiscal year of nearly half a billion dollars.
The Volunteer State lottery stated it has transferred $499,885,000 to the education account, breaking FY2019’s record of $447.1m and bringing the total raised for education in the state since the lottery’s inception to $6,003,863,000.
TEL President and CEO, Rebecca Paul Hargrove, commented: “We’ve had many winners this year, but the biggest winners continue to be Tennessee students and families who participate in the designated education programs the Lottery funds.
“These incredible results that benefit the state from border to border don’t happen without the steady leadership of our Board of Directors, the commitment of employees, the dedication of our more than 5,000 retailers, the enthusiasm of our players and the support of our Governor and the Legislature.”
A major factor behind these impressive results has been the enabling legislation that allowed the structure of a lottery that is responsive to market conditions and its players.
Total education funding increased over 14% year over year thanks to the lottery’s total revenues for FY2021 reaching $2.083bn, surpassing $2bn for the first time in its history.
Since the lottery’s inception, more than 1.6 million scholarships and grants have been awarded lottery funds. More than 150,000 Tennessee students benefited in the 2019-2020 school year alone.
