cbs17.com · Matthew Sockol · September 8, 2026
NC Education Lottery Fund receiving less money, despite increase in lottery sales
A man displays his Powerball lottery numbers after buying a ticket at a convenience store in Miami, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. The jackpot amount climbed after no one matched all six numbers to win the jackpot. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
# NC Education Lottery Fund receiving less money, despite increase in lottery sales: Auditor
by: Matthew Sockol
Posted: Sep 8, 2026 / 11:31 AM EDT
Updated: Sep 8, 2026 / 12:14 PM EDT
A man displays his Powerball lottery numbers after buying a ticket at a convenience store in Miami, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. The jackpot amount climbed after no one matched all six numbers to win the jackpot. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
by: Matthew Sockol
Posted: Sep 8, 2026 / 11:31 AM EDT
Updated: Sep 8, 2026 / 12:14 PM EDT
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Despite an increase in lottery sales, North Carolina’s Education Lottery Fund saw a decrease in money received last year, the auditor’s office said Tuesday.
According to the North Carolina Office of the State Auditor, overall lottery sales went from $4.3 billion in 2023 to $6.6 billion in 2025, but the percentage transferred to education fell from 23% to 16%.
Despite sales rising during this three-year period, according to the auditor’s office, transfers to education went from $1.02 billion in 2023 to $1.09 billion in 2024 before declining to $1.08 billion in 2025.
An audit determined the education fund was receiving less money because changes to lottery games.
State officials said the biggest impact was the introduction of digital instant games, which had no sales in 2023, but grew to $2.60 billion in 2025 and represented about 40% of the total sales. The payout rate of the digital instant games is about 87%.
Other factors included an increase in price expense from 66% of sales to 76% because of the digital instant games’ rapid growth, traditional lottery games having lower sales, and higher-payout games seeing expanded use, according to the auditor’s office.
Noting that state lottery laws were not designed with digital instant games in mind, the auditor’s office is recommending the North Carolina Education Lottery to work with the North Carolina General Assembly to determine if the primary objective of the lottery should be maximizing the amount of money transferred to education, maintaining a minimum transfer percentage, or having a clear policy framework to balance both.
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