TRENTON (July 15, 2019) – For the first time ever, the New Jersey Lottery, in collaboration with lotteries across North America, has declared the week of July 15th as the inaugural observance of Lottery Week.

Lottery Week is a celebration of lotteries across the United States and Canada, in acknowledgement of their collective contributions to the communities they serve.

In fiscal year 2018, together, U.S. lotteries generated $23.4 billion to support initiatives in their individual states and transferred $4.8 billion to their retailer partners.

As its fifth largest revenue producer, the Lottery is a significant economic engine for the State of New Jersey. Since its inception in 1970, the Lottery has contributed more than $26.8 billion to the State. In Fiscal Year 2018, the Lottery generated approximately $3.3 billion in sales. The strong sales resulted in a contribution to the State of approximately $1.03 billion, helping to bolster the public employee pension system for teachers, police and fire personnel and other public employees, as well as supporting businesses and communities throughout New Jersey. The Lottery’s success in FY 2018 was shared by many with the award of more than $1.991 billion in prize money to our players and payment over $188 million in commissions to our retailers.

But there’s more, beyond the numbers. Lottery organizations and their partners are often involved in directly supporting local causes as well, by hosting events like toy drives and participating in State-sponsored blood drives and holiday charitable campaigns.

They team up with responsible gambling groups to educate their retailers and consumers, to help encourage safe, responsible play. Since June 1999, the New Jersey Lottery has participated on the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, Inc.’s Board of Directors. The Council’s 1-800-GAMBLER helpline number is printed on every Lottery ticket, and on all brochures and signage, and it also appears as a tag line on all of the Lottery’s radio and television advertisements. The Lottery’s website directs visitors to the Council’s site, where members of the public can get free information and help.