Record $6.6B sales push NC Lottery education funds beyond $1B again

The North Carolina Education Lottery is on a winning streak of its own. For the third year in a row, the lottery has crossed the billion-dollar mark in support of schools, helping to fuel classrooms, campuses, and kids’ futures across the state. But this milestone is only part of the story, as new records, digital growth, and fresh investments are reshaping how the lottery impacts education in North Carolina.

Record-breaking year

The North Carolina Education Lottery has raised over $1 billion to help support education programs across the state for the third straight year.

For fiscal year 2025, the state lottery raised $1.07 billion. As of June 30, 2025, that brings the total amount provided for education by the North Carolina Lottery to over $12 billion since it started in 2006.

These funds are being used to help benefit education programs in every county throughout the state.

“At the lottery, we are driven by our goal to make a positive impact on the lives of North Carolinians,” said Mark Michalko, executive director of the North Carolina Education Lottery. “The lottery has come a long way from raising $325 million for education in fiscal year 2007 to more than $1 billion a year today. The lottery’s continued innovation through the years to meet the needs of our players will help us to continue to meet the needs of our great state.”

An increase in digital sales

In addition to three straight years of raising over $1 billion for education programs in the state, the state lottery also set a record for sales in fiscal year 2025.

The total number of sales for fiscal year 2025, based on final but unaudited results, is $6.6 billion. That is a record number of sales for the state. North Carolina remains the only state lottery to increase sales every year of its operation. 

This increase in sales can partly be attributed to digital sales. In 2023, the state’s lottery commission voted to approve the sale of digital instant gaming. North Carolina is just one of a handful of states that allow players to buy tickets through an app and website.

More and more customers are going online for entertainment and to make purchases. Because of that, the North Carolina Lottery developed digital instant games that players can enjoy through Online Play. This has helped lead to an increase in digital sales for the state.

The state lottery also invested in new technology at lottery retailers to help improve the purchasing experience for both the customer and the retailer.

Surpassing educational funding goals

For fiscal year 2025, the state set an educational funding goal of $935 million. Because of these record sales, the state was able to surpass that goal by over $141 million.

This additional funding will now go into the state’s Need-Based Public School Capital Fund, which supports grants for counties to build new schools. Last year, the North Carolina General Assembly awarded $368 million in grants to counties to build new schools.

There were at least eight ribbon-cutting ceremonies held across the state last year to open new schools. In addition, there were topping-off and ground-breaking ceremonies held for new projects. 

For this current year, the North Carolina General Assembly has allocated $1.08 billion, which will be raised by the lottery, for education programs, which include:

• A free, academic preschool for at-risk four-year-olds in the North Carolina Pre-K program.
• School construction, repair, and renovation.
• Support for salaries of non-instructional school workers in every county.
• Support for the state’s Next NC Scholarship, which is awarded based on financial need to students attending a state university or community college.

The allocations for this year include an increase in the amount of funds given to cover the costs of transportation to $182 million, which is up from $21.3 million the year before. They also allocated, for the first time, $11 million for the North Carolina Scholarship for Children of Wartime Veterans. This is a four-year scholarship for children of deceased, disabled, combat, or POW/MIA veterans.

Enjoy playing the North Carolina Lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.