Despite a sour economy and a harsh winter, the Iowa Lottery is reporting several records and near-records for earnings during the fiscal year that ended June 30th.
Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich says he didn't expect the final figures to turn out as high as they did, like more than 256-million dollars in sales for the year, which included the highest totals from Lotto, instant-scratch and pull-tab games since the lottery started in 1985.
While the agency itself is reporting a good fiscal year, Rich says it was a great year for the players.
Iowa has seen seven million-dollar winners in the past six months.
Overall, Iowa Lottery players took home a record of 150-million dollars in prizes from the lottery's core products, a four-percent increase from the previous record total of 145-million in fiscal year 2008.
Rich says the lottery returned a record 208-million dollars to Iowans for the year, either directly in prizes or in profits to state programs.
The figures released on Tuesday show the lottery raised nearly 58-million dollars in profits for state programs during the year, which Rich says is down slightly from the year before.
