BATON ROUGE — Louisiana’s lottery is raking in more cash from players.
The state lottery corporation announced Wednesday it took in nearly $454 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30. The corporation says that’s up about $3.3 million from the prior year and the lottery’s second-largest haul since operations began in 1991.
Lottery President Rose Hudson said in a statement that scratch-off tickets were a revenue-driver, with sales growing 13 percent.
Under Louisiana law, 35 percent of the money generated by the lottery goes to the state treasury, dedicated to public elementary and secondary education. The lottery says it transferred more than $158 million to K-12 education last year.
Other dollars go to retailers that sell tickets, and at least half of the lottery’s revenue pays for prizes for players.