Arizona Lottery bags $2.9 billion in 25 years
Associated Press

 VALLEY – Since opening its doors 25 years ago, the Arizona Lottery has produced $2.9 billion in prizes and contributed more than $1.8 billion to state and local projects and programs.

Arizona was the first state west of the Mississippi to sponsor a lottery. Though lotteries are now in 42 states, only 14 had lotteries then and the 1980 initiative campaign to create the lottery was steeped in controversy.

Voters narrowly approved the lottery, with 51 percent in favor of it.

It was backed by businessmen who hoped the lottery could raise a revenue stream of $40 million a year and lead to tax reductions. It was funded by a lottery ticket manufacturer who then landed the first ticket contract.

Despite fears that the lottery would draw  “undesirables” to the state, criminal influence and corruption charges haven’t materialized.

Nearly 400 players–machinists, casino workers, short‑order cooks, postal workers, laborers and retirees–have won $1 million or more.

Some have saved the winnings and kept their lives about the same, while others hide away from the scam artists, long‑lost relatives and greedy friends who, winners say, come calling immediately.

Since it began in 1981, the lottery has generated revenue of more than $5.5 billion, a little more than half of which goes to prizes and about one‑third to fund a variety of state and local projects and programs.

Unclaimed prizes fund the entire budget for the state’s Court Appointed Special Advocates program, which provides volunteers to work with abused and neglected children in state custody. The state’s regular budget gets a big chunk, more than $37 million a year.

The Heritage Fund, which supports the Arizona Game and Fish and State Parks departments, gets $20 million each year. With deep cuts in parks funding in recent years, the Heritage Fund has played a critical role in supporting the department, said public information officer Ellen Bilbrey.

Some groups, such as the Center for Arizona Policy, continue to question the role of the state in enticing people to gamble on all but delusional hopes of winning big.

They point out that the odds of winning the jackpot are steep–one in 4.5 million for “The Pick” game and one in 146 million for the multistate “Powerball” jackpot.

“We don’t want people to be using the lottery as an investment because it is throwing away your money,” said Peter Gentala, the center’s general counsel.

He points to studies indicating that mostly low‑income residents play lotteries.

Art Macias, the lottery’s director, disputes that assertion and says the lottery’s own research indicates that players mirror average Arizonans.