ATLANTA – The Georgia Lottery Corp. recently announced record first-half profits for education. Georgia Lottery profits for the first half of fiscal year 2010 totaled $429,754,000, surpassing the previous record set last fiscal year by more than $8.49 million.

Gordon County students, families and citizens have benefited greatly from the Georgia Lottery’s success with the Georgia Lottery as the only traditional lottery in the U.S. to experience 11 consecutive years of growth in profits.

In Gordon County since the Georgia Lottery’s inception in 1993, 3,335 university system students have received more than $13.3 million from Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship Program; 672 private college and university students have received more than $3.2 million from HOPE; and 5,754 technical college students have received more than $10.2 million from HOPE.

More than $26 million has gone to Gordon County schools for Georgia’s Pre-K Program, benefiting 6,276 students. The county has received an additional $2.2 million for capital outlay and technology initiatives.

Gordon County businesses also have benefited with local lottery retailers earning more than $11.4 million in commissions.

Lucky Gordon County residents have won more than $97.3 million. Many of those dollars have been reinvested into Georgia’s economy.

The Georgia Lottery’s success story is one that all Georgians can celebrate.

Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corporation has returned more than $11.4 billion to the state of Georgia for education. All Georgia Lottery profits go to pay for specific educational programs including Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship Program and Georgia’s Pre-K Program. More than 1.2 million students have received HOPE, and more than 1 million 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.