RALEIGH – The N.C. Education Lottery has made its final transfer of lottery revenues to the state for fiscal year 2012, bringing its total contribution to $456.7 million. The transfers mean that in just over six years of operations the lottery has produced more than $2.45 billion in revenue for North Carolina.

The amount transferred to education in FY12 was $31.7 million more than projected when the NCEL approved its original budget for fiscal year 2012. Thanks to continued growth in the sale of lottery tickets, the Education Lottery increased its contribution to education in North Carolina for the sixth year in a row.

“Our track record shows the lottery has become a reliable source of revenue for education in our state,” said Alice Garland, executive director of the N.C. Education Lottery. “We’re here to help pay teachers’ salaries, for at-risk four-year-olds who need a stronger start in schools, for students who need help paying for college and for counties which need help building and repairing schools. All are good causes and all can count on the lottery’s support.”

Since the lottery began in 2006, the amount of lottery dollars transferred to the state has increased each year, including:

• $325.5 million in FY07
• $350 million in FY08
• $410.9 million in FY09
• $419.5 million in FY10
• $446.9 million in FY11
• $456.7 million in FY12

The final FY12 transfers amounted to $102.8 million, including earnings that resulted from sales in the last quarter of the fiscal year. The additional funds earned in the last days of the month will be carried over and transferred to the state in the first quarter of FY13.

Legislators decide in the state budget each year how lottery dollars are allocated. This year’s budget called for 51.9 percent to go for teachers’ salaries in grades K-3, 23.5 percent to go to school construction, 14.8 percent to the N.C. Pre-K Program, 7.2 percent to need-based college scholarships, and 2.5 percent to UNC Need-Based Financial Aid.