(Pierre) – The winning ticket for Saturday’s record $365 million
Powerball jackpot wasn’t sold in South Dakota, but the tickets players
bought trying generated more than $850,000 in revenue to the state.
Powerball ticket sales for the 19-draw jackpot run that began with the
Dec. 17 drawing and ended Saturday night totaled $3.7 million. While players
won more than $827,000 in prizes during the run, state funds also benefited
from ticket sales.
Twenty three cents of each $1 Powerball ticket purchase is state revenue
that is distributed to the state’s general fund and capital construction
fund. The general fund is the state’s general operating fund. The capital
construction fund is used for ethanol production incentives, water and
environment programs, and state highway projects. Since the jackpot run
began, state revenues from Powerball ticket sales totaled $851,702.
The 394 lotto retailers across the state also benefited from the
increased sales a large jackpot run can bring. Approximately five-and-a-half
cents of each ticket purchase goes to retailers in the form of sales
commissions and bonuses. The record jackpot run earned retailers more than
$203,600 in commissions and bonuses.
In state fiscal year 2005, sales of Powerball, Dakota Cash, Hot Lotto and
Wild Card 2 lotto tickets generated a total of $3.7 million in revenue to
the state. By law, the first $1.4 million in revenue is distributed to the
general fund, with the remainder distributed to the capital construction
fund.