Illinois Lottery reports record sales

SPRINGFIELD -- The Illinois Lottery had a record fiscal year 2008 with more than $2 billion in sales.

The lottery reported in a statement last week that its $2.078 billion in sales is the most it has earned in its 34-year history. The figure is 2.8 percent more than fiscal year 2007 sales.

Lottery officials say of that haul, $657 million was contributed to the Illinois Common School Fund. The lottery also has three specialty games, which raised $2.5 million for Illinois veterans, $1.4 million for breast cancer causes and $1.1 million for AIDS charities.

The biggest sellers for the Illinois Lottery are instant games, which netted $1.1 billion, or 53 percent of total sales.