This marks the 10th consecutive year that the lottery had generated more than $1bn for senior programs, which include property tax and rent rebates, prescription assistance and more.
The lottery says record profit was generated through sales of a record $5.3bn in traditional games, which include scratch-off tickets and draw games such as Powerball and Mega Millions.
The sales of scratch-off games reached a record of more than $3.7bn, a $554.6m increase from the previous year and surpassing the previous record of $3.2bn set in 2019-20.
Traditional game prizes paid to winners also increased by nearly $612.4m to more than $3.5bn. A total of 97 winning tickets of $1m or more were paid to players during 2020-21.
In addition, the lottery also set a sales record as it made nearly $887m through online sales, a 21% or $156.7m increase from the previous fiscal year.
More than $772.1m in prizes were paid out to online lottery winners; this represented a $135m increase.
“We are extremely proud that we kept funds flowing to programs that benefit older Pennsylvanians during a year when many sorely needed this assistance,” said Pennsylvania Lottery Executive Director, Drew Svitko.
“Our team is very passionate about our mission of responsibly generating funds for our commonwealth’s older residents. We are hard at work to make sure we keep this momentum going and build on this success," Svitko added.
As a result of the records, more than 9,600 licensed lottery retailers earned an estimated $329.1m in sales commissions.
