State Doesn’t Get As Much as Last Year From Idaho Lottery

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The Idaho Lottery is reporting a drop in its annual return to the state, making it the first time in 11 years the state's lottery fell below its previous end-of-the year dividends.

Director Jeff Anderson announced Tuesday that the state's lottery is returning $45 million in annual dividends. That's an 8 percent drop from last year when the lottery reported a record high of $49 million. Anderson says people tend to buy lottery tickets for extraordinarily large jackpots with hundreds of millions at stake.

However, this past fiscal year, Idaho had long stretches of jackpots ranging from $40 million to $60 million. This year's dividends will be split between Idaho public schools and the state's permanent building fund, which helps build and maintain state buildings including at colleges and universities.