Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2009
CELEBRATING TWO DECADES OF WINNING
LOTTERY PROCEEDS IN KENTUCKY HAVE NOW PROVIDED MORE THAN $1,350,000,000 IN COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS AND GRANTS
Early on the morning of April 4, 1989, then-Governor Wallace Wilkinson stepped in front of a
huge wall of cameras and microphones at a Thornton’s on Preston Highway in Louisville. He walked to
the cash register, handed over $3 and bought the first two tickets sold for the brand-new Kentucky
Lottery.
Neither of the two tickets Wilkinson bought that morning turned out to be a winner. However,
after $11.7 billion in sales during the past 20 years, Kentucky Lottery players have received $7
billion in prizes – and the Commonwealth has realized more than $3 billion in profits that have
gone to fund college scholarships, education, adult and early childhood literacy programs,
affordable housing and even bonuses for Vietnam veterans.
Lottery proceeds in Kentucky began shifting to college scholarship and grant programs in
1999. The KLC has surpassed the $1.35 billion mark in scholarship and grant funding as well as the
$3 billion mark in overall proceeds returned to the Commonwealth.
Students in every Kentucky county have benefited from these programs. To see how lottery
profits have helped students in your county, click HERE. To learn more about Kentucky
Lottery-funded scholarships and grants and how to apply for them, visit the Kentucky Higher
Education Assistance Authority’s website at
www.gohigherky.com.
As for the nearer term, FY09 marked yet another record year for the KLC. Lottery ticket sales
in the state surpassed $800 million for the first time in our history.
Overall FY sales were $810.5 million. This number (which includes $45.5 million in free
tickets as prizes) surpasses last year’s record-breaking level by $32.3 million, or 4.2%. It also
marks our fourth consecutive year of record-breaking sales.
Even in light of this new sales landmark, the KLC’s operating expenses in terms of real dollars
and as a percentage of sales decreased for the third consecutive year.
This sales jump placed the KLC in the top five lotteries for sales improvement in FY09.
The Commonwealth received record-breaking dividend transfers of $204.4 million during the
year to be used for the literacy, college scholarship, and grant programs funded by KLC proceeds.
The previous record was $204.3 million set in FY06.
The increased sales also led to a record $50.2 million paid to retailers in commissions and
incentives.
As is usually the case, the bar is set very high for us moving forward. We are extremely
proud of the tremendous job performed by our retail partners and our employees under the difficult
circumstances we faced this year, and all of us are already working toward what we hope to be a
successful FY10.
RECORDS BROKEN IN FY09
- $810.5 million in sales
- $204.4 million in dividends to the Commonwealth (26.7% of total sales, compared with 24.7% in FY'08).
-
$504.1 million in scratch-off tickets sold
- $50.2 million paid to retailers in commissions, incentives and bonuses
-
1,553,731packs of scratch-off tickets shipped
