Lottery pays out $75 million dividend for state buildings, school funding

BOISE (Idaho Ed News) — The Idaho Lottery paid off $75 million in dividends Tuesday — the third largest payout in its 36-year history.

State officials announced the dividends at a ceremony at the College of Western Idaho, one of this year’s lottery beneficiaries.

Lottery proceeds will help pay for CWI’s CapEd Student Success Center, a 35,000-square-foot hub slated to open next fall. The center has a $21.7 million price tag. Nearly half of that money, $10.7 million, will come from the state’s Permanent Building Fund, which in turn receives some of its funding from the lottery.

Three-eighths of this year’s lottery dividend, or $28.1 million, will go to the Permanent Building Fund, which bankrolls state capital projects, including campus buildings.

“These funds are essential for maintaining and enhancing our state agencies, universities, colleges, and public buildings,” state Department of Administration Director Steve Bailey said of the lottery proceeds.

The bulk of the lottery dividend, nearly $46.9 million, will go toward public schools. But schools can no longer use the money directly. Under a far-reaching 2024 school facilities law, this lottery money must go into a property tax relief fund to offset the cost of bonds and levies.

“(The dividends are) reducing taxpayer burdens to provide quality education for our youth,” Gov. Brad Little said in a Lottery news release.

Originally posted on IdahoEdNews.org on July 17, 2025