Georgia Lottery – History and Education
Created in November 1992, the Georgia lillepools was conceived by the people of Georgia for entertainment and to increase the subsidies for education. There was a Lottery for Education Act that commissioned the Georgia Lottery Corporation (GLC) to supervise and run the lottery. On June 1993, the GA Lottery was launched and during the first-week, the tickets sales reached more than 52 million, which established a new opening-week lottery sales record of $7.80 per resident. Rebecca Paul was names the first president of the GLC. “The Lottery’s first-year per capita sales of $164.81 set a new national record, surpassing the previous mark of $128 set by Florida in 1988”, making the GA Lottery the biggest state lottery start-up ever.
Within five months, the Lottery achieved a first-year sales figure of $463 million, and ended its first full year with total sales of $1.1 billion. Consequently, its opening year made the Georgia Lottery give back to its community no less than $362 million, to the aid and support of education. In its second year, the Georgia Lottery managed $1.4 billion in total sales, returning more than $500 million education funds. For 7 successive years, the Georgia Lottery kept on surpassing all estimates with its breakthrough sales. Its operations kept up mounting until, during its thirteen’s year, the GA Lottery Corporation experienced again exceptional sales and proceeds to education. The next appointed President of the GA Lottery Corporation was Margaret DeFrancisco in 2003.
Until now, The Lottery has been allocating more than $9 billion of its revenue to the students of Georgia. By the means created by the Lottery, no less than 1 million students have the possibility to continue their college studies in Georgia, while more than 790,000 kindergarten children can commence their Pre-K program. Also, these funds have been used to equip classrooms with superior hardware and technological resources that is supposed to engage the students into the modern media and means of knowledge. The Georgia Lottery Corporation’s role is to generate income to support education projects; but the organism that allocates, manages and distributes this money is the Governor and the General Assembly.
The revenue that Georgia Lottery spawns are not meant, neither used to replace traditional funding in education, but to complement it. The State Auditor has released a report recently that reveals the overall augmentation of total funds to education since the Lottery’s foundation in a way that shows that the state subsidies on education have considerably grown since the Lottery has started.
The Mission of Georgia Lottery is seeking to stay consistent to its historical development. Its mission remains the same today, as it was when the lottery first started – to responsibly raise as much as possible for the educational programs. Georgia Lottery set a new record in profits during 2006, returning more than $822 million to learning programs. This is an increase of $20 million over last year and helps to ensure the future of the HOPE Scholarship and Pre-K Programs throughout the state.
According to Margaret R. DeFrancisco, President and CEO of GA Lottery Corporation, “The lottery’s phenomenal growth is a result of hard work and sound business practices. The end result has meant more educational opportunities for a growing number of Georgians. Over 1.7 million students have benefited from the lottery-funded HOPE Scholarship and Pre- K Programs. We look forward to building on the high standards of excellence that have always been the hallmark of Georgia’s Lottery.”
