N.C. Education Lottery Sets New Record For Money Raised For Education

RALEIGH, N.C. – The North Carolina Education Lottery celebrated its 20th anniversary by raising a record amount of money for education in the state. It also marks the fourth year in a row that the lottery raised more than $1 billion for education programs.

Based on unofficial results, the estimated $1.14 billion generated in fiscal year 2026 brings the total amount provided for education by the lottery, as of June 30, 2026, to more than $13.4 billion since it started in 2006.

Mark Michalko, executive director of the N.C. Education Lottery, said the record-setting funding can be felt in school districts across North Carolina.

“For 20 years now, the lottery has proven to be a strong partner for our state’s schools,” said Michalko. “We watched communities break ground on new schools they would not have been able to afford without lottery funding. We talked with college students who can chase their dreams with the help of a lottery-funded scholarship. We heard from parents whose four-year-old learned to read in a NC Pre-K classroom, removing the financial barrier to early childhood education. These are the stories that drive us every day.”

The N.C. Education Lottery, a top performer in the nation, remains the only lottery in the U.S. to increase sales every year of its existence. The trend continued in fiscal year 2026 with a new sales record of $7.1 billion and over $5.5 billion in prizes to players, based on unaudited results. North Carolina is currently the youngest lottery in the country to consistently earn over $1 billion for their state.

In recent years, the North Carolina General Assembly has dedicated a large portion of lottery funds to help build and improve public school buildings. Since the start of fiscal year 2026, we celebrated 15 milestones across the state as communities held groundbreaking, topping out, or ribbon-cutting ceremonies, with five new schools set to open for the upcoming 2026-27 school year.

A total of $2.4 billion in lottery funds has been awarded as grants amongst 62 counties. These grants have enabled design and construction projects at more than 100 schools across the state, serving thousands of public school students across North Carolina.

“The Education Lottery’s long history of increased funding for our schools confirms that we are on the right track,” said Ripley Rand, chair of the North Carolina State Lottery Commission. “Innovations in games, investments in new technology, and increases in payouts to players ensure that people stay engaged with the lottery for the right reasons and that we remain in a good position to continue to benefit public education in a meaningful way.”

In addition to the grant-based construction, lottery funding currently supports five good causes for education in North Carolina:

• School construction, repair, and renovation funds for all 115 districts.
• Non-instructional school workers in every county, including custodians, substitute teachers, and office staff.
• School-provided transportation, like bus drivers’ salaries, fuel, and maintenance.
• A free, academic preschool for at-risk four-year-olds in the NC Pre-K program.
• College scholarships, including the state’s Next NC Scholarship, awarded based on financial need to students attending a state university or community college, and the North Carolina Scholarship for Children of Wartime Veterans, a four-year scholarship for children of deceased, disabled, combat, or POW/MIA veterans.

These numbers are unofficial and will be finalized when the lottery issues its annual report statement this fall.