By Linda Cicoira — More than $202.5 million was spent to purchase Virginia lottery tickets in Accomack County in the last 20 years, according to figures released this week by John Hagerty of valottery.com Meanwhile, in Northampton, the total came to nearly $104 million bringing the total for the Eastern Shore in the last two decades to $306.5 million.
More than $61.4 million in state lottery money has been paid to Accomack and Northampton county schools since 1999, the first year the funds were directed to K-12 education in the state, according to figures.
Accomack County Public Schools was sent a total of $45,260,810 during the last two decades. Northampton County Public Schools, which has fewer students than its neighboring county, received $16,184,591.
“These figures are provided to us each year by Virginia’s Department of Education,” Hagerty said. “The lottery does not determine how its profits are divided among Virginia’s school divisions.”
Ticket sales in Accomack were $6,082,963 in 1999, $6,204,849 in 2000, $6,082,927 in 2001, $6,600,957 in 2002, $6,524,968 in 2003, $7,156,447 in 2004, $7,897,928 in 2005, $8,464,190 in 2006, $8,403,998 in 2007, $9,115,361 in 2008, $8,983,706 in 2009, $9,807,673 in 2010, $10,214,244 in 2011, $10,885,745 in 2012, $11,607.975 in 2013, $12,202,692 in 2014, $12,035,572 in 2015, $12,754,404 in 2016, $12,732,050 in 2017, $13,737,962 in 2018, and $14,960,426 in 2019.
In Northampton, tickets sales totaled $3,168,089 in 1999, $3,220,504 in 2000, $3,417,644 in 2001, $3,488,713 in 2002, $3,904,034 in 2003, $4,390,648 in 2004, $4,571,984 in 2005, $4,661,637 in 2006, $4,744,676 in 2007, $4,703,930 in 2008, $4,579,889 in 2009, $4,730,660 in 2010, $4,617,857 in 2011, $4,870,857 in 2012, $5,216,515 in 2013, $5,231,336 in 2014, $5,746,847 in 2015, $6,111,753 in 2016, $6,995,205 in 2017, $7,481,186 in 2018, and $8,141,856 in 2019.
Accomack schools received $715,888 in 1999, $717,335 in 2000, $694,913 in 2001, $806,245 in 2002, 903,278 in 2003, $819,867 in 2004, $868,104 in 2005, $879,378 in 2006, $795,769 in 2007, $747,052 in 2008, $3,033,628 in 2009, $2,800,536 in 2010, $2,976,514 in 2011, $3,043,957 in 2012, $3,333,499 in 2013, $3,394,091 in 2014, $3,633,284 in 2015, $3,705,210 in 2016, $4,036,489 in 2017, $3,360,261 in 2018, and $3,995,512 in 2019.
In Northampton, the school system received $321,273 in 1999, $310,881 in 2000, $286,043 in 2001. $325,340 in 2002, $332,199 in 2003, $296,039 in 2004, $298,305 in 2005, $293,453 in 2006, $247,476 in 2007, $245,210 in 2008, $978,061 in 2009, $956,202 in 2010, $1,096,274 in 2011, $1,154,029 in 2012, $1,266,155 in 2013, $1,233,497 in 2014, $1,376,790 in 2015, $1,293,195 in 2016, $1,342,333 in 2017, $1,180,780 in 2018, and $1,351,056 in 2019.
“Because the lottery doesn’t determine the amount each school district receives, we don’t track the revenue generated by sales by county,” Hagerty said. “We track the total statewide revenue. So we know, for example, that last year 28.3 percent of lottery sales were profits to school, but that percentage is not necessarily the same from one year to the next. It depends on other factors, such as how much the lottery paid out in prizes to players that year.”
