ILLUSIONAL

Food Truck, Baton Rouge, LA 7/2007 from Baton Rouge Blues

all reproduction rights reserved Wm. Greiner

Some state lottery payoffs fall short of promises

A New York Times investigation found that lotteries account for less than 1% to 5% of the total revenue for K-12 education last year in states that use the money for schools. The newspaper found that most of the money raised by lotteries just goes to keep the games going through marketing and higher prizes. According to the report, lottery spending per capita in Louisiana is fairly low at $77 in annual sales (in Massachusetts, the sales per capita is nearly $700 annually), and 36% of the profits go to the state, with 51% being used for prizes and 13% for administrative costs. Read the article and see an interactive map here.

Baton Rouge Business Report 10/11/2007