OKPOLICY.ORG
There has been some discussion in recent days about the performance of the Oklahoma State Lottery, including this editorial from The Oklahoman, after the Lottery Commission adopted a budget for FY ’10 that projects $66.6 million in revenues for education for the upcoming fiscal year. This is a slight reduction from previous years, when lottery proceeds have ranged from $69 to $78 million.
Those wishing to understand how lottery proceeds are allocated, track annual revenue collections, and see how lottery revenues have been appropriated in recent budgets, may wish to check out this OK Policy fact sheet [PDF] from last November. It was part of three short briefs [PDF] we produced looking at the new “sin taxes” – the lottery, gaming compacts, and increased tobacco taxes – that Oklahoma voters approved in 2004. The briefs revealed that these three revenue sources raised $286.9 million in FY ’08 for the state dedicated to education and health care: $71.6 million from the lottery, $92.2 million from gaming, and $123.1 million from increased tobacco taxes.
We hope to put out an updated publication once final FY ’09 numbers have been reported.
