AUGUSTA, Maine - The Maine State Lottery says it finished the fiscal year that ended June 30 by setting a new record. Total lottery sales exceeded $272 million.
Tim Poulin, deputy director for the Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations, says that total beat a record set the previous year by almost $20 million.
"We did a little over $178 million in prizes to players, which is about 65 percent of our total revenue that we brought in, so that's excellent news for our players," Poulins says. "They're playing more and they're winning more."
In addition, Poulin says, the lottery paid out more than $18 million in commissions to the 1,300 lottery retailers across the state, and contributed $57 million to the state's general fund, $3 million more than the previous year.
Poulin says a lot of the increase was due to the record $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot in January. He says another factor was the introduction of a new $25 instant ticket.
