New Mexico lottery sales better than expected this year

Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2000 | 2:27 a.m.

That means the state would get about $19.5 million for education, rather than the projected $18.3 million.

Sixty percent of lottery profits goes to school construction, and 40 percent to college scholarships.

While increased sales this year means more money for scholarships, it won't make much of a dent in the program's long-term funding shortfall.

"It won't cure the problem," said Gary Bratcher, the lottery's interim chief executive officer. "Forty percent of whatever we get is never going to be enough."

The Commission on Higher Education projects a $2.7 million shortage in the next budget year. Unless that is somehow made up, scholarships would have to be reduced from 100 percent to about 70 percent of tuition, according to the commission.

The biggest contributor to the increased sales are the instant "scratcher" games, Bratcher said.

Sales of "scratchers" are expected to be $68 million in this budget year ending June 30, a 48 percent increase over last year.

Sales for the multistate Powerball game are down, and the projected revenue this year has dropped from $31 million to $26 million.

Bratcher said that's because so far this year there have been no jackpot "run-ups" - jackpots that escalate because there are no winners.

Last year, the Powerball jackpot twice exceeded $100 million, resulting in record sales.