With the ever-growing online world, people tend to play Lotto online. The Virgina Lottery set the online selling tickets record. Not only it is becoming more and more popular but the winnings are life-changing.
The Virginia Lottery has set a new record by selling more lottery tickets over the internet than in person during a 12-month period. The Virginia Lottery recently revealed that it sold a record $5.521 billion worth of tickets during its 2024 fiscal year, which ended on June 30. Ticket sales were up by almost 20% from 2023, when they reached $4.612 billion.
Lottery officials told the Lottery Post, an online news site focused on the U.S. lottery industry, that more than $3 billion of the sales came online. About $2.45 billion came from sales at brick-and-mortar lottery retailers.
The Virginia Lottery first offered online games and ticket sales on July 1, 2020. John Hagerty, a spokesperson for the Virginia Lottery, said that annual internet sales have increased in the past four years, reaching a record high in the 2024 fiscal year.
Online lottery gaming is currently legal in just nine states: Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Dakota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Washington, DC, also allows iLottery. Massachusetts is getting ready to launch its online lottery market at the end of next year. Virginia is the first iLottery jurisdiction to report a higher number of online sales than in-person purchases.
While the online numbers might be worrying for lottery retailers, Hagerty said there has been a similar increase in in-person sales. The Virginia Lottery has around 5,300 businesses that serve as in-person lottery retailers.
The Virginia Lottery is mainly good for K-12 public education. The lottery brings in about $2.3 million a day for public schools. Since the Virginia Lottery first started in 1999, it has generated over $13.6 billion for primary and secondary public education. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin gave the lottery's latest financial results a big thumbs-up.
"During my time in office, we've been able to set new records for funding K-12 education, which has led to more opportunities in the classroom," Youngkin said. “I'm really happy that these record profits will help provide the resources and support that Virginia's students need.”
Roughly 10% of Virginia's K-12 education budget comes from Virginia Lottery profits. With sales of $5.5 billion in FY24, the Virginia Lottery has set a new record, with profits reaching over $934 million.
One lucky Virginia Lottery winner, who scooped $1 million on Cash4Life during the August 3 drawing, is using his good fortune to give his son a fresh start.
Aaron Andrews got married in April and has been living with his wife in his father's basement in Prince William County since then. His father, who plays the lottery a lot, finally had a big win when his ticket picked the five white numbers that were drawn: 25, 35, 36, 41, and 59.
Andrews' father's luck in beating the odds of 7.28 million to one meant he could choose between a weekly payment of $1,000 for life or a one-off cash sum of $1 million. The father, Andrews, picked the $1 million pre-tax option and gave the money to his son.
"I have a great father who has always been there for me, and I'm really grateful for that," Aaron told the Virginia Lottery when he came to claim his prize last week. "This was the best way to get him out of the basement," his dad joked.
On top of that, the $1 million is taxed at the federal rate of 37%, and Virginia adds another 5.75% in state taxes on lottery winnings. Once taxes are taken into account, the younger Andrews will be left with approximately $572,500.
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