A Very Good Year for the NJ Lottery

The New Jersey Lottery performed very well in Fiscal Year 2013.

In its annual report, the Lottery said game proceeds contributed more than a billion dollars to education and institutions, an increase from $950 million in fiscal 2012. Also, lottery winners took home $1.67 billion in prizes.

"In the New Jersey Lottery, there were 107 million winning tickets validated and paid last year," said Judith Drucker, Lottery spokeswoman.

There were other milestones as well, including the four multi-state jackpot game wins by players in the state in just one year. According to Lottery executive director Carole Hedinger, that is the most multi-state winners ever in a single year.

Drucker said that also included 81 top tier winning tickets during the year. Those top tiers saw prizes that ranged from $650,000 to $211 million.

She said looking ahead, a new "Cash for Life" game is being rolled out, offering prizes of $1,000 a day for life and $1,000 a week for life.

Since the startup of the New Jersey Lottery in the year 1970, its collective games have contributed more than $22 billion to education and institutions in New Jersey, and it is currently the state's fourth-largest individual revenue source. Right now, there are 6,500 businesses in the Garden State which sell Lottery tickets.