The Wyoming Lottery says its first month of sales went better than expected. Wyoming Lottery CEO Jon Clontz says the group expected to make about $1.2 million, but brought in about $1.8 million in its first month selling tickets, which began August 24th.
The lottery uses no state money for its operation. Clontz says the group has to pay back a $3 million private loan before any money reaches local governments.
"So we’re gonna need some time to pay this 3 million dollars back," says Clontz. "I expect to pay it back in 16 to 20 months, but we have to pay that loan back first and then we’ll start sending money to the treasury. I think to only take a couple years to stand up a business and be debt free and then put millions in the system for decades, it’s a pretty good trade off."
After the loan is paid, the first $6 million sent to the treasury will go to city governments. Anything above that is currently slated to go into the Wyoming Education Trust Fund to be used for K-12 school programs.