BOISE, Idaho ÔÇô Luck happens again as the citizens of Idaho became millionaires for the 22nd time in as many years when the Idaho Lottery returned their eighth consecutive record annual dividend for the benefit of Idaho public schools, the State's Permanent Building Fund, and the Bond Levy Equalization Fund.

On behalf of the citizens of Idaho, this afternoon Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter accepted a record dividend check for $37 million from the Idaho State Lottery Commission and Idaho Lottery Director Jeff Anderson. With this year's dividend, the Idaho Lottery has now returned $510,800,000 in dividends since beginning operations on July 19, 1989.

"I am pleased to accept this, another record-breaking dividend from the Idaho Lottery, on behalf of Idaho┬┤s public schools and our Permanent Building Fund," Governor Otter said. "This funding will continue contributing to the infrastructure in our schools and around the state for future generations. And every dollar that the Lottery contributes is a dollar less that comes out of taxpayers' pockets."

"This year marked a historic achievement in the success of the Idaho Lottery. With this year's dividend, we have now returned more than half-a-billion dollars to the citizens of Idaho," stated Jeff Anderson, Idaho Lottery Director. "It was also a banner year for our players, our dedicated retailer network, and for the true winners of the Idaho Lottery, our beneficiaries: Idaho public schools, the Permanent Building Fund and the Bond Levy Equalization Fund. Thank you to every one for supporting us this past year."

This year's dividend comes on the strength of $147.2 million in sales that ties last year's Idaho Lottery record. In addition to the $37 million annual dividend, the Idaho Lottery has also returned $10.1 million in income tax withholdings on high tier winning Lottery tickets since January 1, 2011. Fueled by over $192.7 million in high tier prizes, the Idaho Lottery returned $9.6 million in income tax withholdings in the month of January alone. This was approximately 11.25% of Idaho's surplus revenue for FY2011. Since income tax withholdings were first started in Idaho in 1998, the Lottery has returned $25.7 million.

The Idaho Lottery's record-setting year produced seven new millionaires and more $500,000 and higher winners per capita on multi-state draw games than anywhere else in the country since December 1, 2010. For the first time in its history, Idaho recorded a Mega Millions jackpot winner, sharing the second largest jackpot in United States Lottery history with Washington. For the fourth time in five years, Idaho also had a Wild Card jackpot winner. In addition, six players, three on Powerball, two on Mega Millions, and one on the Idaho $1,000,000 Raffle won $1,000,000. In total, 19 players won over $200,000 and 154 players won over $10,000, both individual records. This year, the Idaho Lottery paid out over $89,900,000 in prizes other than multi-state jackpots.

And with the record number of six-figure or higher winners this year, Idaho's local retailers earned record commissions of $8.9 million bringing their 22-year earnings to over $126 million.

Historically, Lottery dividends are shared by the Idaho Department of Education's Public School Building Account and the Department of Administration's Permanent Building Fund. Each of those two accounts will receive $17,000,000 this year. A statute change in 2009, which sunsets in 2014, sets aside a portion of Lottery funds above the Fiscal Year 2008 funding level of $34 million for the Department of Education's Bond Levy Equalization Fund. This year, the Bond Levy Equalization Fund will receive $3 million, bringing the three-year total to $6.5 million since the law was changed.

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