Fiscal Year 2006 was truly a banner year for the Arizona Lottery. Our sales hit an all-time high of $468.7 million! We set records all the way around: net profit for the state of $141+ million, over $31 million in retailer commissions, and more than $259 million in prizes for our players.
Our Scratchers sales exceeded last year’s record by 13.7 percent, reaching a total of almost $250 million; and our drawing games (The Pick, Fantasy 5, Pick 3 and Powerball) grew by 23 percent to reach almost $218.9 million.
These achievements mark the perfect way to kick off an important celebration—our 25th Anniversary! And what a celebration it’s going to be. We’ve got our biggest Scratchers ticket ever with a top prize of $250,000! We’ve got promotions, giveaways, special events, a road trip, plus two second-chance drawings during the year with a top prize of $250,000 each.
The central message of every event and promotion is Where the Money Goes; in other words, what the Lottery has contributed to the state during our first 25 years. The numbers are pretty impressive:
Sales: almost $6 billion
Retailer Commissions: almost $379 million
Prizes: almost $3.1 billion
Return to State: almost $2 billion
The $2 billion returned to the State translates to the following:
General Fund – $766,761,400
Local Transportation Assistance Fund: – $558,000,000
County Assistance Fund – $152,636,000
Heritage Fund – $298,526,500
Economic Development Fund – $50,157,800
Mass Transit – $62,350,800
Healthy Arizona – $40,645,700
CASA – $28,756,900
I encourage each of you to visit the Where the Money Goes section on our website for additional details about each of these funds. Furthermore, you can find out how communities throughout the state have used their funds to improve the quality of life for their residents.
Improving the quality of life for Arizonans is what the Arizona Lottery is all about. It’s why we were created—to generate the maximum amount of revenue for the benefit of the state – and what we continually strive to do.
As we approach the next era of the Lottery, our growth is promising. We will continue to offer fun, exciting, and innovative games for our players, and we will continue to enhance our technology for the convenience of both players and retailers.
A special thanks to all our players, retailers, and staff for supporting the Arizona Lottery. Without you, we could not have generated another record-breaking year of sales, nor would we have been able to generate almost $2 billion for our many beneficiaries and the state programs and projects it supports. Your Arizona Lottery—it’s not just a game.
Art Macias
Executive Director
Arizona Lottery
