Mega Millions Jackpot Benefits State Education Programs
Georgia lottery officials say the recent Mega Millions jackpot of $656,000,000 will benefit some state education programs. About $25,000,000 will go toward the HOPE scholarship and the state’s Pre-Kindergarten program.
Georgia Lottery president and CEO Margaret DeFrancisco says the popularity of this year’s Mega Millions game was unprecedented.
“When we got to over $500,000,000, we were in uncharted territory,” she says, “It was a world record. There had never been a prize that large awarded anywhere.”
It’s often thought that money for Georgia’s HOPE and Pre-K programs has dwindled due to declining lottery revenues. But DeFrancisco says the demand for those programs is simply outpacing lottery earnings.
“We cannot keep up with really the success of those two programs,” DeFrancisco explains, “And we’re one of the top-performing lotteries, not just in the U.S., but in the world.”
Despite the $25,000,000 boost for HOPE and Pre-K, state officials say they’ll likely have to dip into the lottery’s reserves to cover the costs of both programs.
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