The New Hampshire Lottery Commission made record revenue last fiscal year, and the money will go toward funding the state's education trust fund.
For fiscal year 2024, which runs from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, New Hampshire is on track to bring in $631 million in total sales, up 5% from the previous year, the commission announced this month.
This was driven by a surge in popularity for a number of games, including Tri-State Megabucks, which doubled its sales year-over-year; Powerball, which saw sales increase by more than 20 percent; and e-Instant Games, which saw sales increase by 25 percent.
In total, $200.7 million of the revenue was put into the Education Trust Fund, a state account that pays for public school adequacy funds as well as Education Freedom Account vouchers, school construction assistance, special education assistance, career technical education programs and other education expenses.
The education trust fund is expected to total $1.2 million in fiscal year 2025, which ends in June 2025. Lottery funding is just one source of revenue: The fund is also funded by 41 percent of business profits and business corporation tax revenues, state taxes on hotel and residential rentals, tobacco taxes, real estate transfer taxes and state utility taxes.
The commission said the state has earned $114.8 million since December 2019, when New Hampshire legalized sports betting in the state and signed an exclusive contract with DraftKings for online betting. The commission did not disclose how much sports betting revenue the state generated last fiscal year.
State officials welcomed this year's win by the lottery commission, which has been operating since 1964.“The New Hampshire Lottery's goal is to maximize revenue for New Hampshire schools while providing fun and entertaining games for players,” said Charlie McIntyre, the commission's executive director.
The Education Trust Fund has come under intense scrutiny in recent years as Democrats have criticized the passage of the Education Freedom Account program, which provides public funds to families who meet income criteria to help pay for private school or homeschool their children instead of public school. Democrats argue that as more families participate in the program, it puts a strain on the Education Trust Fund and reduces funding for public schools. Republicans, on the other hand, say the program is a worthwhile expenditure to promote school choice.
Meanwhile, some conservative House Republicans have proposed shrinking the Education Trust Fund, arguing that it has often run surpluses in recent years and that surpluses could be put to better use.
1 proposed amendment A biennium budget proposal proposed by House Finance Chairman Ken Weiler, a Kingston Republican, would have dedicated a smaller percentage of business taxes to the fund in 2023. The amendment was ultimately defeated.