Lottery Scholarship is not yet a sinking ship

Despite concerns that the Legislative Lottery Scholarship will be out of funds by 2014, the money raised for the scholarship in fiscal years 2010 and 2011 were the highest on record, according to the New Mexico Lottery’s annual report.

Gross revenues for FY 2011 totaled $135.6 million and $143.6 million in 2010. $43.6 million was allocated for the scholarship in 2010, and $41.3 million in 2011. In the 2011 spring semester, 17,053 scholarships were given to students; 7,294 were given to students at the UNM main campus.

New Mexico Lottery spokeswoman Linda Hamlin said even though ticket sales are going down, support is still pouring in for the scholarship.

“We don’t want our players to become confused and think that, because people are talking about the scholarship fund, that they somehow equate that the lottery has no money,” Hamlin said. “We are paying players millions of dollars in prizes every month and we’re raising millions of dollars for the scholarship program every month.”

Hamlin the lottery has raised approximately $19 million for the scholarship program so far in FY 2012, but alternative entertainment choices are vying for players’ attentions.

According to a news release issued last August, the New Mexico Lottery predicts “flat sales of $136.4 million and flat revenues of $41 million” for the next four fiscal years.

Hamlin said the New Mexico Lottery will continue to remind players about the benefits of playing the lottery.

“We’re just going to keep our focus here on exciting players, getting new people who maybe never thought about playing a lottery game to think about buying a ticket, paying those wonderful prizes and raising money for the college scholarship program,” she said.
Of the total gross revenue, about 30.5 percent went to the Lottery tuition fund in FY 2011. More than half of revenues, 54.3 percent, went to the players’ prizes. By law, the lottery is required to give, at minimum, 50 percent of proceeds to players in prizes.

After payouts, the cost of product, retailer commissions and administrative costs are paid, the rest of the funds, a minimum of 30 percent of the gross revenue, are given to the state treasurer for the Lottery Scholarship program.

Since the New Mexico Lottery’s beginning in 1996, it has raised $487.5 million for education in New Mexico, sending more than 75,300 students to college, according to the annual report. Hamlin said she is grateful for the support of players, retailers and the legislative community.

“They are the heroes of the college scholarship program,” she said. “They’re the ones that are raising that revenue. We’re just the conduit, if you will, but they’re the ones that are raising that money for college scholarships.”