After a surge in ticket sales, the Idaho Lottery Wednesday awarded a record-breaking annual dividend to public schools.
“There has never been a year like this before,” state Lottery Commission Chairman Craig Corbett said Wednesday, before awarding a $56.25 million dividend for K-12 during a brief Statehouse ceremony.
The lottery dividend isn’t a big jackpot for K-12, not in the context of an overall state budget approaching $2.8 billion. But the record amount does represent a significant one-year increase.
In 2025, the lottery paid out $46.9 million in dividends for K-12.
“(We’re) easing the burden on local property taxpayers,” Gov. Brad Little said Wednesday.
The lottery money no longer goes to districts or charters for administrators to spend on local projects. Instead, a wide-ranging 2024 school facilities law siphons the schools’ dividend into a fund used to offset voter-approved bonds and levies.
The lottery awarded two oversized checks during the Wednesday ceremony, bringing the total payouts to $90 million. In addition to the K-12 dividend, the lottery awarded a smaller, $33.75 million payment to the state Permanent Building Fund. The building fund money goes toward capital projects, including college and university facilities.
The lottery also announced $417,500 in awards to nearly 600 school programs and projects across the state, including 26 elementary school libraries and 53 classroom projects. These proceeds come from lottery VIP Club members.
“They have forgone buying purchasable items or entering sweepstakes for personal gain and instead generously donated to our school-based, Do Good programs,” lottery Director Andrew Arulanandam said in a news release.
Established in 1989, the lottery has distributed more than $1.4 billion in dividends to public schools and buildings.
