Governor DeSantis today signed the Fiscal Year 2021-2022 state budget. The Florida Lottery (Lottery) is proud to highlight the achievements reached during the 2021 Legislative Session. These accomplishments include Lottery Secretary Davis’ Senate confirmation as well as fiscal items that will further assist the Lottery’s core mission of maximizing revenues for the enhancement of education in Florida.
“I appreciate and value the support Governor DeSantis and the Legislature have for the Lottery, and I am honored to lead this agency in its mission to maximize revenues to enhance education in Florida,” said Florida Lottery Secretary John F. Davis. “The Lottery takes great pride in being one of the most efficient Lotteries in the nation—currently operating on less than 1% of revenues. We also recognize that there is always room for growth, and that we must continue to meet the needs of our consumers in order to carry out our mission of generating additional funding for students and schools. Once again, I want to extend my gratitude to the Governor for his continued support. The items in the Fiscal Year 2021-2022 budget will help to improve core business operations and strengthen the Lottery’s commitment to education.”
During the 2021 Legislative Session, Secretary Davis was officially confirmed by the Senate, solidifying Governor DeSantis’ appointment.
The Legislature also approved the Lottery’s budget items recommended in Governor DeSantis’ Florida Leads budget, which supports the Lottery by investing an additional $10.3 million. Items include:
- Authorization to begin procurement of a new prize payment system. This replaces the Lottery’s more than ten-year old system with a new claims and payment system that will provide players with state-of-the-art payment options and increased processing efficiencies.
- $130,000 to begin the implementation and transition of the Lottery’s primary data center infrastructure securely to the cloud. This is the first step to implementing a multi-year, cloud-based strategy that aligns with the Governor and Legislature’s cloud-first policy.
- $250,000 to complete a comprehensive security evaluation as required in Section 24.108(7), Florida Statutes. This statutorily required independent security audit, which is conducted every two years, evaluates all aspects of the Lottery’s physical and data security.
For every $1 appropriated in the Lottery’s budget, more than $10 are transferred to education. This fiscal year, the Lottery has already transferred more than $2 billion to the EETF, marking 19 consecutive years that the Lottery has transferred more than $1 billion to Florida’s students and schools.
ABOUT THE FLORIDA LOTTERY
The Florida Lottery is responsible for contributing more than $39 billion to education and sending more than 880,000 students to college through the Bright Futures Scholarship Program. The Florida Lottery reinvests 99 percent of its revenue back into Florida’s economy through prize payouts, commissions to more than 13,000 Lottery retailers, and transfers to education. Since 1988, Florida Lottery games have paid more than $75.6 billion in prizes and made more than 3,000 people millionaires. For more information, please visit www.flalottery.com.
