For More Information
Contact: SCEL Executive Office
803-737-2002
The South Carolina Education Lottery has another record breaking year!
Columbia, SC (July 25, 2005): The South Carolina Education Lottery (SCEL) exceeded expectations again and had another record breaking year! Gross sales for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2005, amounted to over $956 million, $6 million more than the previous fiscal year. This brings total ticket sales since the Lottery’s start-up, less than three and one half years ago, to slightly under $3 billion.
“This is not only a success story for the Lottery, but for the people of the Palmetto State. Obviously, maximizing the net proceeds for education is our top priority,” said Ernie Passailaigue, SCEL Executive Director.
South Carolina’s Board of Economic Advisors (BEA), the state agency that forecasts lottery net proceeds, originally estimated the annual fiscal year ‘05 transfer to be $255 million to the Education Lottery Account. Actual transfers were over $280 million, translating into a per capita amount of $70. SCEL not only met the expectation, but exceeded it by 10%; the fourth consecutive year that the transfer goal has been surpassed.
Since the Lottery’s inception in January 2002, the General Assembly has appropriated over $1.14 billion to enhance the educational opportunities in South Carolina. Putting this in human terms, over 400,000 lottery-funded scholarships have been awarded through the spring semester of 2004; more than $330 million has been directed into K-12 programs; and $120 million has been appropriated to the ‘Endowed Chairs’ program at South Carolina’s three research institutions: Clemson University, the University of South Carolina and the Medical University of South Carolina. The ‘Endowed Chairs’ program is a matching program designed to propel South Carolina into the new, world economy.
For more information on “Where the Money Goes,” please visit our website at www.sceducationlottery.com.
For more information on SCEL, visit our website at: www.sceducatonlottery.com_______
P.O. Box 11949, Columbia, SC 29211-1949 1333 Main Street 4th Floor, Columbia, SC 29201 Office: 803-737-2002 FAX: 803-737-2882
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