Last week, a lucky winner snagged the $1.3 billion Powerball jackpot. The winner wasn’t from Virginia, but the state remains in a winning state of mind.
Sales from the beginning of this jackpot run drove big revenue numbers for Virginia. According to the state lottery, it took in an estimated $24.2 million in profits.
The Saturday drawing, which eventually resulted in a winning ticket, saw more than 117,000 Virginia Powerball tickets award prizes. This included several notable winners who purchased their tickets through the Virginia online lottery.
Online sales in Virginia drive strong Powerball revenue
The Virginia Lottery allows both retail and online play. That means you can purchase tickets through the typical methods, such as filling out a play slip or selecting numbers on a vending machine at participating locations.
Alternatively, Virginians can buy tickets online, making it easy to play lottery games like online keno from the comfort of one’s home or on the go.
Profits from the Powerball tickets purchased in Virginia fund K-12 education. The state earned more than $867 million for K-12 schools in fiscal year 2023, which accounted for about 10% of the state’s total K-12 budget.
The Virginia Lottery website and mobile app allow you to purchase tickets online. Plus, you can play instant lottery games — these work like scratch-offs, but they’re converted into a digital format with snappy art and animations.
You can demo the games online for fun before playing for real if you wish.
Powerball jackpot produces some big winners in Virginia
Despite the Powerball jackpot winner being elsewhere, Virginia players still won big. Five lucky winners took home $50,000 in prizes from the sizable drawing. Two of the tickets were purchased online.
The other three were bought at retail locations:
- Food Lion in Mineral
- Wawa in Manassas
- IGA Express in New Castle
The Virginia Lottery website has a full breakdown of where this money goes.
Unclaimed lottery prizes are funneled to another Literary Fund, which offers low-interest loans for “public-school construction, renovations, and technology upgrades,” according to the VA Lottery. FY 2023 saw $12.6 million given to the Literary Fund.
Photo by PlayiLottery
About the Author
