BOISE — Lotto fever has gripped the nation in recent days with Tuesday's Mega Millions prize soaring to $1.6 billion.
It seems like everyone is getting in on the action, and with any luck someone will claim the record smashing jackpot.
“A rough ballpark in what we're looking at as far as activity is that we are about 10 times normal activity on Powerball and Mega Millions right now,” said Dave Workman with the Idaho Lottery.
But the lottery enriches more than just the winner. It also gives back to Idaho schools. According to Workman, 40 percent of ticket sales go back to the state.
“Three-eighths of it goes to the [Idaho] Department of Education,” Workman said.
That money goes to school facilities, and is divvied up to districts based on average Dailey attendance. Another one-fourth goes to the Department of Education’s bond levy equalization fund, which helps school districts pay off bonds.
“You look at big picture of overall budget for department of education and it's huge,” Workman said.
The Department of Education isn’t the only state department that gets a slice of the lottery pie. Three-eighths goes to the Department of Administration for the state’s permanent building facilities fund. That money funds projects and maintenance on state-owned facilities, mainly on Idaho college campuses.
This year a record-setting $53.5 million from lottery sales came back to the State of Idaho. Public schools got $33.4 million of that money.
The winning numbers for Tuesday's Mega Millions drawing were: 5, 28, 62, 65, 70 and Mega Ball 5.
