News writer; Opinion columnist
Michigan schools hit the jackpot in 2023 when the state lottery contributed $1.3 billion to the School Aid Fund, which benefits educational institutions in the state. Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced the total and said it was the second-highest total the lottery has contributed in state history.
Big bucks for books
This massive financial windfall represents the fifth straight year of billion-dollar contributions from the lottery to state education initiatives.
Since its inception in 1972, the School Aid Fund has received over $28 billion from the Michigan State Lottery, including over $6.2 billion in the last five years.
The state's annual education budget for K-12 schools is $21.4 billion, so the lottery money represents just under 5% of that amount.
Big winners
Of course, schools weren’t the only big winners. This year, state lottery players took home over $3 billion in jackpots and winnings.
One of the biggest winners was a 69-year-old woman who chose to remain anonymous. She won $6 million after hitting the big prize playing a Diamond Riches scratch-off game she purchased from a Pure Market in Whitmore Lake.
A 29-year-old player who also chose to remain anonymous carried a ticket worth $2 million for four months before he knew he had a winner. The man told Patch.com that he thought the ticket was a loser, and he left it in his truck until his wife told him to check if some of her tickets were winners.
That's when he decided to double-check his own ticket and realized that he had been sitting on a fortune and didn't even realize it.
Purchasing a Supreme scratch-off ticket from an 8 Mile Foodland in Southfield made one Detroit Woman $2 million richer, even if she wasn't sure of her own win.
The woman told Patch.com:
I was at the store and bought an instant ticket before leaving. I scratched the ticket when I got home and was in shock when I saw I won $2 million! I didn't believe what I was seeing, so I had to have my grandpa double-check the ticket.
Michigan's 10,000 lottery retailers also enjoyed significant payouts, receiving commission payments of $350 million. In the last five years, retailers have earned lottery ticket sales commissions totaling $1.7 billion.
Bonus breakdown
Under state law, all profits from the lottery must be contributed to the School Aid Fund.
A report released by the State Lottery Commission gives a detailed look at how each dollar spent on lottery tickets in 2023 was distributed:
- 61 cents went to players as prizes
- 27 cents went to the School Aid Fund
- 9 cents were paid out as commissions to authorized retailers and vendors
- 3 cents went to fund the Lottery’s administrative costs
In a statement released through Michigan Lottery, Governor Whitmer stated that the lottery doesn't just benefit schools but the state as a whole.
In addition to investing in our schools, each Lottery ticket purchase also supports local businesses, building on our economic momentum. With about 97 cents of each dollar spent on the Lottery returned to Michiganders in the form of contributions to the School Aid Fund, prizes, and commissions to local vendors and retailers, the Lottery makes a real difference for communities across Michigan.
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