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State took in record lottery revenues last year, a boost to Education Trust Fund

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State took in record lottery revenues last year, a boost to Education Trust Fund

Aug 29, 2024 | 5:15 am ET
By Ethan DeWitt
State took in record lottery revenues last year, a boost to Education Trust Fund
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Powerball sales in New Hampshire increased by more than 20 percent in the fiscal year that ended June 30. (Flavio Coelho | Getty Images)

The New Hampshire Lottery Commission brought in record revenue the past fiscal year — money that will help fuel the state’s Education Trust Fund.

In state fiscal year 2024, which ran from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, New Hampshire took in a total $631 million in sales — a 5 percent increase from the previous year, the commission announced this month.

That came from a surge in popularity for a number of games, including the Tri-State Megabucks, which doubled sales from the previous year, the Powerball, which increased sales by more than 20 percent, and the e-instant game sales, which increased by 25 percent.

In total, $200.7 million of the revenues went into the Education Trust Fund, the state account that pays out adequacy funds for public schools as well as Education Freedom Account vouchers, school construction aid, special education aid, career technical education programs and other education expenses.

The Education Trust Fund is expected to total $1.2 million in state fiscal year 2025, which ends June 2025. Lottery funds are just one of its revenue sources; the fund is also powered by 41 percent of business profits tax and business enterprise tax revenue; the state tax on hotels and housing rentals; the tobacco tax; the real estate transfer tax; and the state utilities tax. 

Since December 2019, when New Hampshire legalized sports betting in the state and gave an exclusive contract to DraftKings to operate online betting, the state has taken in $114.8 million in revenue, according to the commission. It did not specify how much revenue came in from sports betting in the past fiscal year.

State officials hailed this year’s intake by the Lottery Commission, which has operated since 1964. “At the New Hampshire Lottery, our goal is always to maximize revenue for New Hampshire schools, while providing our players with fun and entertaining games,” said Charlie McIntyre, the executive director of the commission. 

The Education Trust Fund has come under scrutiny in recent years, as Democrats have criticized the passage of the Education Freedom Account program, which gives public funds to income-eligible families to help pay for private school and home-schooling expenses for their children in lieu of public school. Democrats have argued that as more families join the program, the Education Trust Fund will be burdened and funding to public schools will suffer; Republicans say the program is a worthy expense to promote school choice.

Some conservative House Republicans, meanwhile, in recent years have proposed reducing the size of the Education Trust Fund, arguing that the fund often runs a surplus and the excess money could be better spent. 

One amendment to the two-year budget in 2023, proposed by Rep. Ken Weyler, a Kingston Republican and the House Finance chairman, would have devoted a smaller share of business taxes toward the fund. The amendment was ultimately rejected.